I Belong With You
by tabithaann
Summary: "Does it have to be all or nothing?" questioned Rory. Logan looked at her sadly, his face expressing his disappointment in her response, "Yeah, it does…Goodbye Rory". What happens immediately after this? Did Rory really mean that she wanted to be free? Surely they mean more to one another than this...? Post season 7, as though AYITL never happened...
1. playing back myself leaving

"Does it have to be all or nothing?" questioned Rory. Logan looked at her sadly, his face expressing his disappointment in her response, "Yeah, it does…Goodbye Rory".

—

The conversation played over and over in her mind as she sat on her bed _Gigi's bed_ , she reminded herself, _not my room anymore_. She had said goodnight to her family early, she knew that she needed some time alone. She hadn't meant to sound so cold-hearted in her rejection to Logan. She hadn't meant it to be a rejection at all. All she had wanted to say to him was yes, she had just been unable to get the words out. _What am I going to do?_ she asked herself as she sat there, spinning her phone around and around in her hands. _What the hell have I done?_

—

Logan had left the graduation ceremony in a hurry; he needed to be as far away as possible from Yale and all of the memories that it held. He didn't understand what had just happened; he could only see his future with her and hadn't stopped to consider the alternative. He looked around, realising that he had found himself in a bar that he and Rory had frequented. _Perfect,_ he thought to himself, _just perfect_. He went up to the bar and ordered himself a drink, the first mouthful of scotch accompanied by the sound of his name coming from a familiar voice.

"Drinking alone, Mr Huntzberger?" Finn questioned, as he ordered another scotch for Logan and one for himself.

"Just taking the edge off," Logan responded, "It's been a trying day."

"About that…care to fill in the blanks? Honor gave me the overview…"

 _Of course, she did_ , Logan thought to himself. "And what did my lovely sister have to say?"

"Well she was crying, so she didn't say much to be honest. But she did sob…about how you and your illustrious girlfriend royally fucked things up." Finn looked Logan dead in the eyes as he told him what Honor had said. It was good that he did, as he would otherwise have missed Logan's water-filled eyes. "Drink," he commanded as he ordered another.

Logan downed his scotch, taking a moment to get his feelings back under control. "She wants to be free," he said, barely audible in the noisy bar. "Free…without me."

Finn processed his friend's statement before responding. "Did she specify the 'without you' part? Honor made it sound as though Rory just wasn't ready to be married right now." He had thought about being subtle but figured that in Logan's state he needed to hear the reality of what had happened. Logan didn't respond, staring at his scotch as he thought about what Finn had said. "I think you're both mental. You know our Rory, an ultimatum was never going to work, mate," Finn continued, "So what's the plan now?".

"But she just let me leave; she didn't follow me." Logan mumbled under his breath, "I love her, Finn."

"So let's go and get her back," Finn said, with a fierce determination. Logan was his best friend, and he would do anything to ensure his happiness.

—

Rory jumped as her phone rang, Logan's name flashing on the screen. She silenced the call, letting her voicemail pick it up. _Not yet_ , she thought, _just a little longer_. A minute or so later it beeped again, letting her know that he had indeed left a voicemail.

"Rory, love, it's Finn. I can't find my phone, I don't know where I left it…anyway, that's not the point. We're coming. Please stay where you are, we need to see our girl. Perhaps best not to be wearing your sweats though, just a thought. See you soon, darling."

 _What!? Coming here - coming to Stars Hollow?_ Once she worked through the shock, she began talking herself into quite a panic. What was she going to say to him? How could she face Finn after she let Logan walk away like that? While once upon a time she had agreed with Mitchum that Logan needed time away from Finn and Colin so that he could grow up, she had come to the realisation that he actually needed them. Especially Finn. Their friendship was important, she couldn't help but wish that she had told him not to go to London. _God, he's good,_ she thought, _even in my own head he's right._ Rory sighed as she realised that more than 15 minutes had passed since Finn had called. As she stood up she looked around the room, taking it in properly for the first time since it hadn't been her room. _It's so pink,_ she thought to herself, _I don't belong here anymore_. While the thought was saddening, it didn't make her feel sad. If anything, it had the opposite effect and made her realise that she did belong somewhere.


	2. you made time to see me

Logan was tense as Finn drove him to Stars Hollow, Finn noted that he was sitting completely straight and still, his hands clenched together. "It's going to be alright, mate," he said, in hopes of calming him down. Logan stared straight ahead, his mind constantly playing back her "no". Finn slowed down as they pulled into the street, he had only been to the small town once but he remembered the way. "Ready, Huntz?" Although it was a question, Logan took it more as a statement and nodded his head, turning to open the car door.

—

Rory swore she had sensed the car pulling up to her parent's place before she could see or hear it. She was sitting in the kitchen, a full cup of coffee in front of her that she had poured and not touched. She looked at the ceiling as she stood up, taking a large breath before walking towards the front door. She had been thinking about what to say to him and had settled on something short and sweet, although she knew that she would end up rambling yet again. _Focus,_ she told herself, _you know what you need to say._

Before she had arrived at the door, Finn walked in rambling on about the safety of small towns and how friendly it was that no one needed to lock the doors. Rory heard the words "trusting" and "quaint" before the roar of "RORY, darling, how wonderful to see you". Finn gave her a bear hug, lifting her off the ground slightly and whispering "Your Huntzberger is waiting for you outside, glad to see you got the message," referencing the dress that she had changed into. Finn walked through the house, talking to himself about needing a drink now after all the work he had done. Rory smiled to herself, wondering what they would all do without Finn in their lives.

—

Logan had heard Finn walk in, and while he had heard him yell out Rory's name, he hadn't heard anything else. Wondering if she was even home (because surely she would be at a dinner with her family somewhere, it was after all her graduation), he slowly wandered around the car and found himself near the chuppah that was in the garden.

Rory watched Logan standing in the garden, he had his back turned to her and was looking at the chuppah that her mother had recently decided needed fairy lights on. She quietly walked over to him and was surprised by the "Hey Ace" that she could barely hear.

Logan hadn't turned around, but he could feel her energy before she had made a sound. He hadn't meant to be the first one to speak, but it had come out before he had been able to catch himself. Smiling to himself, he shook his head slightly, wondering if she knew the effect that she had on him. He realised that Rory had not responded, and turned around to see tears slowly streaming down her face. "Sorry to just turn up, but Finn insisted," he continued, "we can't leave things like this Rory". Rory nodded, and in that moment she knew what she had to tell him. "I've totally messed everything up, you know that I love you, and of course I want to be with you. We promised to factor one another in, but I got so caught up in being free, not that I even know why I would want to be free in the first place, I mean what does it even mean to be free…" she knew that she was rambling, and so stopped and caught her breath, before continuing at a more even pace, "Logan, I love you, I want to be your wife, I want to be with you more than anything." She looked at him questioningly, hoping that he was hearing what she was saying. "I can write from anywhere in the world, I'd be crazy not to go with you."

Logan couldn't believe what he was hearing. He couldn't recall what he had expected her to say when he had arrived, but he did know that this was more than his wildest imagination. "So…are you saying…?" He looked at her, hoping that he wasn't dreaming…surely he'd just fallen asleep in the car?

"Yes, I'm saying yes!"

"But your family? Paris? Lane?" He needed to be sure about what he was hearing from her.

"Planes, phones, Facetime…Logan, I've got it covered. Now, are you going to kiss me?"

Logan looked at her, amazed that the person he loved more than anything loved him right back. "Well, if that's the case…" He put his hand in his pocket, pulling out a small blue box. Getting down on one knee, he opened the box and asked her again, "Rory, love of my life, will you do me the pleasure of being my wife?"

Rory didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation that the two of them had found themselves in, and so while she had a little giggle, she managed to compose herself enough to let out a very loud "yes!". She bent down to Logan and kissed him with everything she had, the two of them somehow managing to stand up while their arms were entwined.

"About bloody time!" Finn yelled out from the doorway to the house. Logan and Rory broke apart, laughing at their friend, and Logan was finally able to put the ring onto Rory's finger. "It's perfect" she whispered to him, as he kissed her cheek gently.

"Alright you two, time to get a move on. Rory, there's a dress hanging in your room - go and put it on. Logan, shirt in, do your tie up, it's time to go." Rory looked at Logan, never having heard Finn being so assertive, with the exception of insisting everyone needed to drink more.

"Sometimes it's better not to ask," Logan whispered, rolling his eyes at Finn. "Where are we going?"

"I have somewhere that you both need to be. Go!" Finn half pushed Rory to the door, her laughter ringing out as she went inside.

—

It wasn't long before Logan was knocking on the door to Rory's old room. He let himself in, looking around he noticed that the room was suddenly very pink. Rory caught his eye, "Gigi's choice" she said softly, notching Logan's expression change as he took her in. She continued to pin her hair, as the navy dress she had found hanging up had very intricate details on the back, and she didn't want her mop of brown hair to cover it.

"Finn…who knew he had such good taste?" Logan commented as he walked over to his fiancé. Rory wrapped her arms around him, kissing him softly on his lips. Logan responded, gently biting down on her bottom lip as he heard Finn coughing at the door.

"Now, now children, plenty of time for that later. Time to go," he said, tapping at his watch, "we're already late enough!"

Rory and Logan looked at one another, Rory shrugging her shoulders and taking Logan's hand, half dragging him out to the waiting car. While Logan wasn't complaining, he really hadn't wanted to go. It had been days since they had been alone together, and while he knew they would be soon enough, that really wasn't good enough - they had things they needed to talk about, plans to make.

Finn insisted that Logan and Rory sit in the back together, it was a bit of a novelty for him to be playing chauffeur. Rory snuggled in close to Logan, it had been a very long and _very_ emotional day. "How long 'til we're there, Finn?" she questioned. "We will be arriving at our destination in about 90 minutes," he said, glancing in the mirror to look at his two friends in the back seat, "plenty of time for you to have a cat nap if you so desire." Rory smiled back at him, and shut her eyes, her head leaning against Logan's chest.


	3. see the lights, see the party

Logan spent the majority of the drive watching Rory sleep and playing with a piece of her hair that she had left out. He chatted to Finn about nothing really, just their usual chat to pass the time. He had questioned him about where they were heading, and while Logan had deduced that they were heading into New York, Finn was remaining extremely tight-lipped about what was going on.

"Alright lovers, we have arrived." Finn announced as they pulled up outside of a rather tall brick and glass building.

"Hey Ace, time to wake up" Logan said softy to Rory. Her eyes fluttered open as she mumbled nonsensically about where they were.

Logan stifled a laugh, amused as always at the way she had woken up, "I still don't know what's going on, but if Finn's face is anything to go by then we are in for something special" nodding his head in the direction of the driver's seat.

Rory looked at Finn and asked him sweetly if he was going to tell them what was going on.

"Patience, darling, you'll know soon enough" he responded with a smirk.

They got out of the car, a valet swooping in to open their doors and park the car for them.

"Dinner, Finn? Isn't three meant to be a crowd?" Logan said jokingly.

"Charming, Huntzberger, but you are mistaken," Finn deadpanned, "this way."

He guided them to the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor. Rory raised her eyebrows at Logan, who took her hand in his and pulled her in to kiss her forehead. The elevator dinged, announcing their arrival at the destination.

"Now….I hope you are prepared…" Finn announced as the door opened, bowing them out of the elevator with a flourish…

Rory and Logan were both breathless as they stepped out of the elevator. Finn had managed to book out the rooftop bar, and many of their friends and family were gathered,

"Congratulations!" being yelled at them from every direction. Rory looked at Logan, back out to all of their loved ones gathered, and then at Finn. She felt as though, for the first time in her life, she was completely speechless. She turned into Logan and kissed him hard on the lips, her arms wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer to her. Logan ran his fingers up to her hair, kissing her back with just as much passion. Rory eventually ended the kiss, as much as she wanted to continue, she had suddenly realised that they had quite an audience. She smiled at Logan and gave him another short, soft kiss on his lips, and then turned to Finn, jumping into his arms and whispering a very soft "thank you" into his ear.

Rory turned back to Logan just as they were both handed a glass of champagne.

Finn cleared his throat, "Thank you, everyone, for coming. These two have had a very interesting day, however before I let Logan steal my thunder, I would like to congratulate our Rory here on her graduation from Yale!"

Finn raised his glass, as the crowd yelled their congratulations. Rory blushed as she took a large mouthful of champagne, figuring that she would need a little courage for what was coming next. Logan took Rory's hand as he began speaking, giving another congratulatory toast to Rory. He made eye contact with her as he continued his speech, checking that she was happy for him to make the next announcement. Rory gave a little nod and squeezed his hand, her mind racing. There's no time like the present, she thought to herself.

Logan continued speaking, saying some beautiful things about how she made him feel safe, and more loved than he ever thought possible, "…and so today," he continued, "I asked Rory if she would do me the absolute honour of becoming my wife." Logan paused for effect, and the crowd was silent, "And she, finally, said yes!"

The applause was deafening as Logan pulled Rory in for another kiss, dipping her slightly in a show of affection.

Rory and Logan greeted the guests that had gathered, taking their time to meander through the crowd and thanking them for their congratulations. They hadn't left each other's sides, and remained in constant contact with each another: her hand was in his, or his hand was on her back, pulling her in closer to him. She wasn't sure if it was just her, but she had felt the energy between them intensifying over the past few hours. She scanned the room, eventually finding what she was looking for - a spot where they could relieve some of the tension. She gave Logan a little smile, her eyes conveying enough for him to cut short the conversation that they were currently having with Honor and Josh.

"What's up, Ace?" he asked her as she slowly moved through the crowd and to a small hallway that would give them some privacy for a few moments.

"Well, I just wanted…" she began, pushing Logan gently against the wall and kissing him.

"Woah" he exclaimed kissing her back, "Here?"

She smiled at him, "Why not?" she whispered.

Logan's face conveyed surprise, and then utter adoration. Moving quickly, he spun them both around so that Rory's back was against the wall. Leaning in he kissed her, gently at first, deepening the kiss once she had responded. She ran her fingers through his hair, wanting to close the small gap between them. Logan's hands trailed down Rory's sides to her thighs, and at that moment he was thankful for the thigh-high splits in her long dress. His fingers moved up slightly, to feel the side of her hip.

He stopped kissing her, taking a gasp of air, "Seriously, Rory, no underwear?" She smiled shyly at him,

"Surprised?" she questioned.

He kissed her in response, "I think I've been a bad influence on you" he mumbled between kisses.

"I'd agree." They both stilled instantaneously as another voice entered the conversation.

Logan was the first to respond, moving his hands to Rory's waist and bringing her to stand next to him.

"Lorelai, sorry, how are you?" He greeted his soon to be mother-in-law, who didn't respond, other than to continue looking her daughter in the eye. "We didn't realise you were here, we hadn't seen you in the bar" he explained, trying to move the conversation along. After a few moments silence, Lorelai finally spoke, "I'd just like a minute or so alone with my daughter, Logan".

He looked at Rory, who smiled at him, saying "I'll come and find you in a little bit". Logan squeezed her hand and went in search of Finn and a drink, not necessarily in that order.

"Really kid? Engaged?" Lorelai began, "And to a Huntzberger?"

"I love him" Rory responded, "I really do."

"But he's leaving…he's moving away, Rory."

Rory had expected her mother to bring this up, she had discussed her future plans at length with her after all. But surely she could understand love?

"I'm moving with him, mum."

"What?! You can't just up and leave, kid, that's not how this works! You have a career to focus on, we've been planning this for years! And then you go and make this decision without even talking to me?! You can't just change the plan!"

Rory took a deep breath, she knew deep down that it was going to come to this. "I know you're coming from a place of concern, mum, and I totally respect that. But this is my decision to make…I love Logan, he makes me happy. I am a writer…I can write anywhere, hell, I could even write in the North Pole if I needed to. I want to do this. If it means that I need to move to the West Coast to be with him, then that's what will happen." She was shocked with how assertive she sounded; standing up to her mum had always been difficult for her, she hated to disappoint anyone, especially her.

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "No Rory, that's not how this works. You can't…you'll lose everything. All of the opportunities that you have, everything will be gone!" Why couldn't her daughter see that she was throwing everything away for a boy?

Across the room, Logan had finally got his hands on a decent scotch and was chatting to Finn, asking him how he had pulled such an event off at such short notice.

"You will never know, my friend," was Finn's response, "but I'm glad that you're enjoying it."

Logan thanked Finn again, ordering another drink for both of them.

Finn took a sip of his drink, and pushed a card over to Logan along the bar, "Can't have you driving home in this state, it'd be irresponsible."

Logan flipped it over and found a room number written on the other side. "Since when did you become so grown up?" he asked Finn with a smirk on his face.

Finn smiled at his friend, "I think I'm off to find Rosemary…tonight is going to be her lucky night." he announced, walking off in search of her.

Logan downed his drink, placing the glass back on the bar as he heard what sounded like Rory and Lorelai having a yelling match on the other side of the room.

Logan approached the two women, and noticed that Chris had also appeared, standing slightly off to the side and shaking his head at his wife and daughter. Standing behind Rory, Logan asked if everything was ok.

"Of course it is," she assured him, "but I think it's time that we said goodbye and went home."

"Way ahead of you baby," he responded, slinking his hand around her waist and leading her to the waiting elevator.

As they walked out they could hear Lorelai yelling at Chris, questioning why he hadn't come to her defence, "You know that this was a terrible decision for our daughter to make, why didn't you say anything?!"

As the elevator door closed, Rory saw her dad walking away from her mum, and leant into Logan, needing to know that he was there.


	4. you held me in your arms

The elevator announced their arrival on their floor, and Logan led Rory to their room, holding the door open for her. As she walked through the door, she undid the strap at her neck that was holding her dress on, standing still as it fell off her naked body and pooled at her feet. She met Logan's eyes and watched as they looked appreciatively over her body, smirking as they met hers again. She walked through their room and poured herself and Logan a drink each.

Logan closed the door behind him, locking it before following her into the room.

He took his drink from Rory, "Cheers, Mr Huntzberger" she said with a smile.  
Logan responded, "Cheers, soon to be Mrs Huntzberger" followed by a wink.  
They both downed their drinks quickly, and as Rory placed her glass on the table, Logan captured her hand and pulled her to him. He ran his hands down her back and kissed her, her arms wrapped around his neck as he lifted her, and then sat her down on the table. Once she was sitting down, Rory intensified her kissing, gently biting and pulling on Logan's bottom lip. With one hand, she reached up and pulled Logan's tie off and then moved to the buttons on his shirt. Logan paused a moment to get his arms out, and Rory quickly reached and undid his suit pants.  
"You in a bit of a rush?" he jokingly questioned her.  
Rory looked him in his eyes, "I just need you," she said, "fuck me, Logan, now."  
He kissed her hard and deep, his hands running over her body as he positioned himself to do exactly as she had asked.

 _Where am I?_ Rory thought as she woke suddenly. Looking over at the bedside table she noted that the clock said 2 am. She stretched her arms and legs, and turned to admire the sleeping Logan, one arm draped across her middle as he snored lightly. She lay there, just watching him, for what felt like hours. Looking across to the clock again, she realised that it was now 2:45, and decided to have a warm shower so that she could hopefully fall back to sleep. She carefully wriggled out of Logan's embrace and headed into the bathroom, using her phone screen as a torch as she didn't want to turn the overhead lights on. As she turned the water on, she realised that the water was falling from the raincloud that was hanging from the ceiling. She stood in the shower, the water falling down her body, as the conversation with her mother played over in her head. She still couldn't understand whether her mum had been unhappy that she was engaged, unhappy that it was to Logan, annoyed that she hadn't been consulted, or something else entirely.

Logan slowly woke up, from feeling cold in the bed at first, and then from hearing the water running in the bathroom. _Bit early for a shower, isn't it?_ He had planned to have a sleep in this morning, and then head out to breakfast with Rory so they could finally chat about plans and timelines and things. He sat up in the bed, and deciding that he should make sure she was alright, headed into the bathroom.

Logan could hear her crying over the sound of the water, and even though the lights weren't on, he could see that she was sitting on the floor in the shower. He opened the shower door and sat down behind her, pulling her into him and closing his arms around her body, whispering to her "I'm here, it's going to be ok, I'm here."  
He sat quietly behind her, letting her get everything out, patiently waiting for her to be ready to talk to him. It wasn't long before Rory had calmed down, and wanted to talk.  
"Can we talk in bed?" she asked Logan as she stood up and reached for a towel. She passed one to him and then wrapped another around herself, turning the water off as she opened the door.  
"Of course we can," he responded, "come on."

Curled up together in bed and under the covers, Rory told Logan everything that her mum had said, trying to focus on the facts rather than her interpretations of them. Logan listened, and when she had finished talking, asked her why she thought Lorelai had reacted that way.  
"I don't know for sure," Rory responded, "but I have some ideas…"  
"Care to elaborate there, Ace?"  
"Well, she's clearly unhappy that we are engaged, I just don't know if it's just that we are engaged, if it's that it's to you, or if it's because I didn't talk to her about it first," Rory explained. "But to be perfectly honest…I think it's because it doesn't fit into the plan that she had decided on for me."  
Logan sat there, mulling everything over. He thought carefully about what he was about to say, "Babe, you need to know…I went and spoke to both her and your dad about the proposal. They both knew, and they both seemed legitimately excited for us."  
Rory looked at Logan. She knew in her heart that he would have spoken to her parents, and in that moment could not express how much it meant to her.  
"Thank you," she whispered, before lightly kissing him on the lips, "Thank you for asking them."  
Logan smiled, "Of course."  
"Well, then I guess that just clarifies that she's upset because it changes the plan that she made." Rory continued, "I wish she could be happy for us, but it is what it is. At least my grandparents were thrilled about the news. Did you see their faces? I thought that grandma was going to explode, I've never seen her so happy!"  
Logan smiled down at Rory, glad that she had been able to open up to him. He knew that there would be more to discuss about Lorelai, recalling how much it had affected Rory when they had last had such a big disagreement. He listened as Rory continued chatting away about the happy responses they had received from their friends and family, picking up on her voice dropping as she said his name.  
"Logan…your parents, they weren't there."  
Although she had phrased it as a statement, he knew that there was a question behind it. "No, they weren't. I don't think Finn knew whether or not it was a good idea to involve Mitchum and Shira in the mix. But I think we should let them know before they hear it from someone else."  
Rory thought about it for a few seconds, "Dinner," she said with might, "let's have dinner with them and share our happy news. They can't be any worse than my mother."  
Logan laughed, "I admire your positive thinking, but don't get too excited about it."  
Rory yawned, "It'll be fine." she mumbled, burrowing further down into the bed, her head resting on Logan's chest (which was, if she was honest, her favourite place to be).  
"Sleeping time now, I think, Ace." he said as he kissed her head, "And then breakfast in the morning to start making plans?"  
"Sounds perfect," she whispered, as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	5. when we decided

Logan was the first to wake, he felt warm with Rory half laying on top of him and the quilt wrapped around them both. Neither of them had moved since their early morning discussion, even in sleep Rory had sought his comfort. The thought made him smile, glad that they had both come to their senses quickly and hadn't lost any time together. Looking at the clock on the side table, he saw that it was just after 9 am. He knew that if he moved Rory would wake, but also knew that if she didn't have a coffee within minutes of waking she would be grumpy for hours. Sighing to himself, he slowly extricated himself from Rory's embrace, brushed his teeth and made coffee for both of them. He had timed it perfectly, he sat back in bed as Rory woke up requesting a coffee in a groggy voice.  
"Good morning, fiancé" he greeted her as he passed her a mug of coffee. She took a few sips before she returned his greeting. "Did you say something about breakfast?" she questioned, realising that she hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours.  
"If you hurry up and get ready, yes" he laughed, looking around the room and indicating the overnight bags that were in the room.  
"Finn?" she asked.  
"Rosemary, I think," Logan responded.  
Rory climbed out of bed, taking her coffee with her over to the bags. She took out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt for Logan, throwing them over to him, and placing the shoes on the ground. Moving to the other bag, she took out a strappy summer dress and some flat sandals, quickly getting dressed, before turning to Logan.  
"Ha! I'm ready before you yet again, Huntzberger!"

They walked out of the hotel hand in hand, and eventually found themselves in a cafe that neither of them had been to before, figuring that neutral ground would be a good idea. They chose a table that would give them a little more privacy, and ordered their breakfast before Rory began the conversation.  
"So, plans…" she said.  
"Plans," he repeated back to her. Rory tilted her head to the side, waiting for Logan to elaborate.

"Well, first of all, are you sure about moving to California with me?" he asked, "I know yesterday you were all for it, but I thought perhaps…" he petered off, waiting for her response.

"Logan! Of course, I'm serious! I promise I haven't changed my mind…I love you."

Logan smiled as she told him that she loved him, "I'll never get sick of hearing you say that."

"I know," she said with a coy smile, "but it's time to focus! We need to get organised!"

And so they began. Logan didn't have to be out west for at least another month, but Rory had simply said "Why wait?" and demanded that they move sooner rather than later. Logan acquiesced to her suggestion, and suggested a two week period, however, she managed, as she normally did, to convince him that it was a brilliant idea to move within the week, explaining that they would then have time to choose furniture and set their home up together. With the relocation plan sorted, they moved on to a discussion about Rory's job options, and while Logan knew his attempts at suggesting she didn't need to work were futile, she loved that he had offered. She knew that she would pick something up relatively quickly once they had moved, and had recently accepted a part-time role proofing an online publication.

Their meals arrived as they had begun talking about future wedding plans. Logan was happy to accommodate any and all of Rory's wishes, with her main focus being small and about them as a couple rather than about their families. Logan wholeheartedly agreed, and even suggested an elopement. While Rory thought that this would be convenient and would definitely ruffle some feathers, she didn't think it was overly romantic.

"Just promise me one thing?" she asked him.

"Anything Ace, you know that."

"Let's not rush into it…just be us for a while."

"My parents are going to want a rough date; so are your grandparents," he said evenly.

"Well, let's tell them that it will be next Winter."

"I'm cool with that," he responded, "but why specifically next Winter?"

"I thought a white wedding would be nice, and well, you know we haven't exactly been using protection lately…"

Logan paused a full 10 seconds, taking in what she had just said. "Are you saying…?"

"No, I'm not pregnant, well I don't think I am, but I'm just saying…we haven't been careful, I'm ovulating this week…" she shrugged her shoulders before continuing, "it's just an idea."

Logan got out of his seat, walked over to her and kissed her deeply on the lips. "Rory Gilmore…you surprise me more and more every day. What a brilliant idea!"

—

Once they arrived back at the hotel, it was a few more hours before they checked out. Logan had called his parents on the way there, organising a dinner with them for that evening. He and Rory had then gotten lost in one another, both very eager to move forward with their additional little plan.

Once they checked out, they both realised that neither of them had a home as such on the East Coast. Rory suggested her grandparent's pool house, however, Logan axed that idea given the circumstances around their last stay there. They decided on a hotel in Hartford, that way they could both organise for their things to be sent to their new home, and they would be close to friends and family for their last week.

Rory spent a few hours getting ready for their dinner, she wasn't exactly lining up for dinner with the Huntzberger's, and so wanted to look and feel her best. She decided upon a cocktail length black dress, one that she had bought on a recent shopping trip with Steph. She chose this dress specifically as she knew Shira would appreciate and recognise the label, something that annoyed Rory to no end. _They're family now,_ she kept telling herself, _family by choice, too._ Rolling her eyes in the mirror, she walked out to see Logan staring out the window.

"Ready, Ace?" he asked her, taking her hand and kissing it.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She responded, picking up her bag and following him out to the waiting car.


	6. you take my hand

They had managed to get through cocktail hour at the Huntzberger's relatively smoothly, there had been a few comments about Rory's lack of job after college, and about Logan's new job, but nothing that the two of them couldn't handle. Shira invited them into the dining room, and sat Rory to her right. Within minutes of the meal beginning, Shira dropped her cutlery onto her plate with a clang.  
"Logan," she began, "WHAT is on Rory's finger?" Logan looked at Rory, and raised one eyebrow, taking her hand under the table.  
"That would be an engagement ring."  
Mitchum stood up and shook his son's hand, congratulating him. He moved on to Rory, giving her a kiss on her cheek and welcoming her to the family.  
Shira could barely contain her disbelief. "What are you talking about Mitchum? Congratulations? Welcome to the family? No, this is not happening!"  
Mitchum looked at his wife, "Shira, Logan and Rory are engaged. They are happy, planning a future together. I'm begging you, please be happy for them."  
Shira looked away from her husband. "well, congratulations" she mumbled. "Excuse me" and with that, she pushed her chair away from the table and disappeared from the room.  
"Do either of you need a top up?" Mitchum asked as he filled his wine glass up.  
"Yes, thanks, Mitchum" Rory responded.

Their dinner continued, and while Rory and Logan remained for both dessert and another drink, Shira did not make another appearance. Logan told his father about the details of his new role, and while Mitchum sounded interested, Logan knew that there was something playing on the back of his mind.  
"Logan, Rory… I don't particularly want to talk business here, but there is something I wanted to talk to the two of you about…"  
Rory looked at Logan, her eyes showing her reluctance to have this conversation. Mitchum picked up on this, reading people being something he did extremely well, and while he didn't want to make her uncomfortable, he continued.  
"I'll be frank. The London office is struggling…there is a lot of competition there. While it may not have ended on the best of terms, even I can't dispute that when you were there it ran quite a bit more effectively."  
Logan glanced at Rory, and he was sure that they both knew what was coming next. "Thanks for the accolades, dad, but we have plans, moving to California is the plan."  
"I realise that Logan, but hear me out." Mitchum continued, "I want you to head up the company. The entire European division."  
"Woah," Rory said under her breath.  
Logan was speechless, staring at his father with his mouth slightly open.  
"Now, Rory, I did say that this concerned you as well. I want you right by Logan's side, you're a good influence on one another and will make a formidable team."  
It was Rory's turn to be shocked, up until that very moment she had honestly believed that Mitchum had serious issues with her and her work. "When? When would we need to go?" Rory questioned; she knew that while Logan would be hesitant to accept his father's offer, he would be absolutely crazy not to.  
"Within the month," Mitchum responded, his eyes not leaving Logan.  
It was silent for a few seconds, before Logan finally spoke, "We'll need to discuss this, dad, it's not something that either Rory or I were expecting."  
"Fine. Let me know by Monday?"  
"Of course. You'll talk to mum?" Logan questioned.  
"I will, don't expect miracles, Logan."

Logan and Rory were quiet on the drive back to their hotel, both of their minds spinning with what had just happened. Logan parked the car, and walked around to open Rory's door. "So, Ace, is it time for a pro and con list?" he said with a smile.  
"I could be persuaded…"  
Logan laughed as they walked inside, asking the receptionist for some paper and pens.

It was 3 am. Logan and Rory had been writing dot points on lists for 5 hours, and they were getting nowhere. Every time one of them raised a con, it was shot down with a positive spin, and vice versa. On and on they went, talking in circles with one another, until Rory looked at Logan and simply asked, "Do you want to do this? Yes or no?"  
Logan sighed, he didn't want to make a decision that would affect both of them without coming to the decision together. He tried explaining this to her, but she wasn't having a bar of it.  
"Logan. Yes or no. No more discussion."  
"But…"  
"Nope, not buts. Yes or no. Nothing will change between us. Wherever you are is wherever I need to be."  
"What did I do to deserve you?" Logan looked away for a moment, and then looked back at Rory. "I guess we're going to London."  
Rory squealed, and crawled over to Logan on the bed. She whispered, "I love you Logan Huntzberger" and kissed him on his lips.  
"I love you….are we really doing this?"  
Rory smiled at him, "You jump, I jump Jack"  
Logan kissed her as he reached behind her and began to undo her dress, sliding it off of her shoulders. He paused for a moment, and Rory instinctively knew what he was thinking.  
"Same plans, baby," she whispered in his ear.  
This seemed to tip Logan over the edge, as he stood up, bringing her with him, and took her dress off completely. He drew a sharp breath as he took in her lacy black bra, matching underwear, and thigh high stockings. He unbuttoned his shirt as he moved closer to her, his fingers running over the bare skin on her upper thigh above the tops of her stockings. She kissed him as her fingers began undoing his belt and then his pants, pushing them down, along with his boxers. Rory gently pushed him back onto the bed, and after removing her underwear, straddled him. She leant down and kissed him before they lost themselves in one another.

They lay in bed a while later, he had his arms around her as they watched the sun slowly emerging. They were chatting about nothing really, just this and that, when they heard a knocking at the door. Logan looked at his watch and saw that it was 5:45am.  
"I'll get it" he whispered to Rory, kissing her lightly on the head. He managed to find a bathrobe to put on, and opened the door to find Lorelai standing on the other side.


	7. when i could finally breathe

Logan looked at Lorelai in shock, he didn't know whether he was supposed to let her in, ask her to wait, or simply to ask her to leave.  
"Didn't your parents teach you manners, Logan? It's rude to keep guests waiting at the door." Lorelai commented, clearly aware of Logan's confusion.  
"Lorelai, what a surprise to see you…if you could just wait here for a moment." Logan heard her begin to say no as he shut the door with her still on the other side. He walked back into the bedroom of the suite they were staying in with his stomach in knots. _What am I going to tell Rory?_ he thought to himself.  
"Who was at the door? Surely it wasn't hotel staff?" Rory sounded sleepy, and Logan noticed that she had her eyes closed. He walked to her side of the bed and sat down next to her.  
"Sweetie, your mum is at the door," he said softly, "I've asked her to wait outside, I wanted you to decide what to do from here."  
Rory jumped up, "What do you mean? My mother is here? How did she even know where we were?"  
"I can ask her to leave, you don't have to do this now if you don't want to."  
Rory looked out the window, the colour of the sky from the rising sun was beautiful. "No. I have to do this."  
Logan looked at her, "We are going to do this together. Now, clothes? I mean, I have no issue with you being naked, so if that's how you want to play this I will definitely not stop you..."  
Rory laughed, but then heard some ferocious knocking coming from the door, which stopped her immediately. "Clothes are definitely required, perhaps you could find me something?"  
Logan ruffled through her bag, finding the dress that she had worn the day prior. He passed it to her as he dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

Rory busied herself by making tea, deliberately choosing it over coffee to annoy her mother. Logan opened the door, and without a word, Lorelai stormed in.

"Why are you still with him, Rory? What are you doing here?!" Lorelai yelled as she saw her daughter. Rory was sitting on the couch, a pot of tea in front of her.  
Rory looked at Lorelai, and having decided to attempt to have a calm conversation simply said "Morning mum."  
Logan walked over and sat next to Rory, and asked her if she'd like a tea.  
"Please, babe." Rory responded, "Mum?"  
"Tea! You're drinking tea? What are you doing Logan, trying to get her prepared for life in England?"  
Rory looked at Logan with an eyebrow raised. _How did she find out?_ she thought to herself.  
Thinking that she had the upper hand in this situation, Lorelai continued, "Did loverboy here not tell you about his move to London? Of course, he didn't. Well, it's true. I've got all of the details. And he's moving you there in less than a month! What were you planning on doing, Logan? Drugging her and hoping she didn't notice that she was in London rather than San Fransisco? How ridiculous. Rory, get your bag, I'm taking you home."  
"Lorelai," Logan began before Rory touched his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.  
"Yes I'm drinking tea, I've recently come to the realisation that I actually prefer it to coffee, it's far less bitter."  
Logan smirked, he had noticed lately that Rory had switched to tea here and there, but he didn't realise that she preferred it to coffee. He made a mental note to double check this with her later.  
Rory continued, "I will not be collecting my things and coming with you. I made it perfectly clear, Logan is my home. We love each other and are engaged. You need to find a way to understand that. And I know all about London, Logan and I discussed it in depth when the opportunity became available, and have come to the decision together. It was just as much my choice as it was his."  
Lorelai had a look of shock on her face, but quickly recovered. "Running back to daddy's company, are we? I bet there wasn't even a job in San Fransisco, was there Logan? All a ploy to convince Rory to be with you before forcing her to move overseas."  
Both Rory and Logan were shocked. They knew that Lorelai was unhappy about them being together, but couldn't understand why she was being so awful about it.  
"Lorelai, would you like to speak with the company I took a position with in San Fran?" Logan queried, "I mean it is 3 on Sunday morning there, so I don't know that anyone will actually answer the phone, but by all means, we can give it a shot."  
"Rory, this is ridiculous. Get your things. We are leaving."  
Rory looked at her mother, _I need some sleep,_ she thought to herself, _this is beyond a joke now.  
_ "Mum. Logan and I are moving to London. We are moving within the next week. We are engaged. If you can't be happy for us then what the hell are you doing here?"  
Lorelai was stunned. "Goddammit, Rory. Where the hell have you gone? You're normally so level-headed. Why are you changing the plan? You've never thrown everything away before, you're normally so calm and focused. Compliant, even. If you don't come with me now then that's it. I won't be coming back."  
"Sounds fine to me," Rory responded. "Someone will come past to collect my things."  
"I'll make sure they're waiting for them outside," Lorelai yelled as she walked to the door. "Thanks for totally fucking everything up, Logan." she hissed as she slammed the door behind her.

Logan watched as Rory visibly relaxed when the door was shut. He handed her a cup of tea, and poured one for himself.  
"So that was Lorelai Gilmore in action," he said quietly. "What a performance."  
"Do you think that I am…what did she say…calm and compliant?"  
"No, Ace. I think you're perfect. You stand up for what you believe in. You are the most focused person I know. You are definitely calm, and that's a good quality to have. But you are most definitely not compliant." _This is what she's worried about?_ Logan thought. _From that whole interaction, this is what she chooses to focus on?_

He shook his head before continuing, "Perhaps…perhaps she's just used to you doing everything she says. Remember when you had that break from school? What was that, like, the second time you ever made a decision that she hadn't first made for you?" Logan was careful to be gentle, he didn't want to sound as though he was attacking her.  
Rory tilted her head to the side, taking in what Logan had said. "Ok," she said tentatively, "I suppose you're right. Actually, no," and a little more forcefully she said "you are completely right. She had a weird hold over me my whole life."  
"She has," Logan agreed, "So why has that changed now?"  
"Well, I met you." Rory smiled at him and kissed his cheek, "I found where I belong."  
"And I'm never going to let you go," Logan responded and pulled her on to his lap.  
"But…how did she know about London?" Rory wondered out loud as she yawned.  
"I have an idea." Logan kissed her softly, "I just hope I'm wrong. Why don't you go and have a nap while I make some calls?"  
Rory kissed him back and got up, walking to the bedroom. She turned around when she reached the doorway. "I love you, Logan."  
Logan smiled at her, "I love you more. Now go, sleep."

He watched as she laid down, and he picked up his phone. "Dad? It's Logan. We need to talk about your wife."


	8. your eyes look like coming home

Rory woke up suddenly, she'd been having a very vivid dream of a little blonde girl running around in a park. She looked around the room as she came back to reality, remembering where she was and what had happened earlier. Her eyes set on Logan, he was laying on his back next to her, one arm above his head and the other across his stomach. She studied his face, he had a slight frown and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, a face which she knew meant he was stressed. Her eyes moved across his body, his t-shirt had risen up slightly, leaving a gap of skin above the waistband of his jeans. As she ran her fingers across his stomach, his hand caught hers.

"Good morning sunshine," he whispered playfully.

"I think it might be good afternoon," she giggled, "When did you come in?"

"About 2 hours after you…although I did lay here admiring your beauty for quite some time."

Rory stretched her legs out, her toes running down his leg as she did.

"As much as I'd love to stay in bed all day, I think it's time for some food…and perhaps to talk about what happened this morning?"

They found themselves in a restaurant that was relatively busy, and ordered a bottle of wine with their meals. Logan filled her in on his phone call to his dad, focusing mostly on their plans to move to London. He had let Mitchum know that they were going to be moving as soon as possible, and Mitchum had emailed across the details for a real estate agent for Logan and Rory to contact.

"Babe, there's something else. Dad mentioned that when we left he told mum about his London offer. He told her it was an option that we were discussing, nothing else."

Rory looked at Logan, slightly confused. "Ok…and how is this relevant…?"

"Well I asked him to look through mum's phone," Logan looked down at his plate, "Ace, Shira called Lorelai. Last night. All of the times add up."

"Your mum called my mum? But…why?"

Logan looked across the table at the love of his life. "Well, I suppose they have the same issues. Neither of them are happy that we are engaged and moving forward with our lives. They both think they know what's best."

Rory blinked a few times and rolled her eyes. "Who knew our mothers would eventually agree on something?"

Logan laughed, because really, what else could he do in the situation. "Bit of a surprise, isn't it? Even dad was shocked."

"So, when are we leaving?" Rory asked, a smile playing on her lips.

As they walked from the car to Richard and Emily's door, Logan told Rory that he'd spoken to Finn earlier in the day about organising to collect Rory's things from Lorelai's place.

"I didn't know if you'd want to go and get them yourself or not." He explained.

"You're amazing, Huntzberger, you really do think of everything." She reached up and kissed him softly, as they rang the doorbell.

Emily had set up their usual afternoon drinks on the terrace, so that the four of them could enjoy the warm afternoon air. She had been listening intently as Rory and Logan filled them in on their plans to move to London, and as much as she knew she would miss her only grandchild, she was thrilled. Not only had she found someone who clearly adored her, she had also found her own strength and had finally made a decision for herself, without the worry of disappointing her mother. Richard was extremely interested in the positions that Rory and Logan would take at HPG, and offered to speak to his daughter about her recent behaviour. Rory had assured him that she had it under control, but that she would let them both know if it intensified. As they said their goodbyes, Logan promised that they would visit again before they left for the UK.

Logan ordered pizza to be delivered to their hotel for dinner, and while he was occupied on the phone, Rory got his laptop out and searched for properties in London. They had briefly talked about where they would move to, and while they both thought the countryside was beautiful they knew it was unrealistic for their future plans - they needed to be located close to the office.

"What you up to, babe?" Logan asked as he walked over to her, kissing her on her head.

"Just thought I'd do a bit of research…"

He looked at the computer screen, "That looks like interesting research," he said with a smile.

"I think we need a list. How many bedrooms? Bathrooms? Do we want a garden? Well, that's not negotiable. We need to have a garden." Rory continued, each thought she had came out in her usual fast-paced tone. Logan just sat there, watching her lips move with each word she spoke.

"Well? What do you think?" She asked him, knowing very well that he had tuned out.

"If you're there, I'm good," he kissed her as there was a knock on the door. "Pizza's here."

Over dinner, they browsed through hundreds of properties, all within central London. Rory had been shocked at the price bracket that they had ended up looking at, and while she was still uncomfortable with the amount of money that they would be spending on a home, she had fallen in love with a beautiful 5 bed apartment in Chelsea that had a rooftop terrace, and a perfect space for a home office. There was even a bedroom directly next to the master which would make a perfect nursery.

"That's the one," she whispered to Logan, "That's where we need to bring our baby home to."

Logan smiled at her and put it on the top of their list. "I'll call the agent tomorrow, Ace, we can look at it as soon as we get to London."

He shut the laptop and stood up, "Now how about we go and test out this shower, work on making that baby…"

The next few days flew by in a flurry of excitement. They had completely packed Logan's things, and had organised to have them shipped to London the following week. Finn had called to say that he had been to Stars Hollow and picked up Rory's boxes, and invited himself to dinner. When Logan reminded him that they were currently living in a hotel room, Finn demanded that they come to his place for dinner, actual food he had said, as Rosemary would be cooking.

"Did he give you any other details?" Rory asked Logan as she finished getting dressed, "Has Rosemary moved in?"

Logan laughed at her, "I don't know, Ace, he just demanded that we come there for dinner. That's all I know." He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her deeply. "Although, if we don't get moving we are never going to leave this room. Those jeans make your ass look incredible. And that top…woah." He ran his fingers up her back, across her shoulder, and down the neckline of her rather low-cut top. She kissed him and pushed her chest out slightly, softly moaning into his mouth. He kissed her back, and slowly moved his kisses lower, across her jawline and down her neck. One of his hands undid her jeans and pushed them down, as he slowly backed her against the wall.

An hour later, Rory and Logan stood at Finn's front door, having rung the doorbell three times. "Are you sure he said tonight?" Rory asked Logan teasingly.

"I'm sure," Logan said, as the door opened.

"Sorry mate, just a _little_ busy considering the two of you are so late," Finn said as he shook Logan's hand and gave Rory a kiss on the cheek. "Rosemary will be out momentarily, she's just fixing her hair."

"I heard that Finn! You said you wouldn't tell!" Rosemary commented as she walked into the kitchen. "Lovely to see you, Rory, Logan. Finn tells me you have some news?"

"How about we get these defectors some drinks first, darling?" Finn suggested, "Logan, scotch? Rory, can I make you the best martini of your life?"

"How come I never knew you could cook so well?" Rory questioned Rosemary over dinner, "This is incredible!"

Rosemary had made bouillabaisse for dinner and it tasted amazing.

"Semester abroad in the south of France," she explained, "My parents thought it _proper_ for me to experience another culture. I took it as an opportunity to learn to cook."

"So, do we have a forwarding address for these boxes yet? They are taking up precious space in my garage."

"You might need to hold on to them a little longer, Finn. But we'll have an address for you by the end of next week." Logan continued, "But if memory serves me correctly, you have enough space for 4 cars."

"Don't tempt me, Logan. I can go and buy another just to prove a point. Isn't the new company organising a temporary apartment? We can send them there."

Rory smiled at Logan before responding, "Well Finn, there's been a bit of a change to our plans…"

"You're staying? What are we all doing here then?"

Logan laughed at Finn's response and shook his head, "No, no, we are still moving. Just a change in destination." he looked at Rory before continuing, "We are moving to London."

Finn looked at the two of them, speechless. Rosemary's eyes grew wide, "Wow, that's amazing. What a brilliant adventure!"

"We think so," Rory responded with a smile.

"But…does this mean?" Finn began; he had put two and two together in his mind, but wanted to hear it directly from Logan.

"Yeah, it does Finn, but in a different capacity. We'll be running the entire European division." Logan looked at Finn, he knew that Finn's response was coming from a place of concern. "And Mitchum will be here in New York. It doesn't get better than that."

Finn and Logan went back and forth, Finn expressing his concerns and Logan attempting to reassure him that it was a positive move for the couple.

Rory decided to help Rosemary in the kitchen and stacked the dishwasher while Rosemary organised dessert. They chatted about the move to London, and the few houses that Rory and Logan had seen online.

"What does your mum think about this? You guys are close, aren't you?"

Rory blinked a few times before responding, "She isn't thrilled about our engagement, she's made that perfectly clear. She stormed in a few days ago and demanded that I go back home."

"No way," Rosemary was shocked, "That doesn't sound like her at all."

"Oh and she seems to have formed an alliance with Shira, they seem intent on splitting us up."

Finn walked into the kitchen, overhearing Rory's comment about Lorelai and Shira. "So, it's true then?"

"Sure is, Finn," Rory said with a sad smile, as Logan walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead.

"So, do you think she's moved in then?" Rory asked Logan as they drove back to the hotel.

"Affirmative…that's some great detective skills there, Ace."

"She's definitely had a positive impact, I've never seen his house so clean!"

Logan laughed, "I completely agree, babe. But enough about Finn, open the email from my dad on my phone."

She took his phone from him, and opened Mitchum's email.

"Logan…really?!" She said with excited surprise, "Seriously?"


	9. another time and place

Rory sat in the American Airlines Flagship Lounge at JFK. Logan had gone in search of the day's papers; they had 90 minutes to kill before their flight to London departed at 10 am. As she sipped her tea, she reflected on the craziness of the previous two days. Mitchum had emailed their flight details to Logan, along with confirmation of a deposit paid on the apartment that Rory and Logan had both fallen in love with. Mitchum had added that the deposit was completely refundable on the off chance that the house wasn't as perfect in person, but he knew that it would be. The following two days had been non-stop; they had visited Richard and Emily, who both had emotional words to say, and they had met with Mitchum, Honor, and Josh. Logan had decided to completely avoid his mother…he just didn't need the drama, and neither did Rory. They had both ventured into Stars Hollow, and while they didn't see Lorelai they did visit Luke, Lane, and Christopher.

The conversation with Christopher had been difficult for Rory, mostly because their relationship had only really begun to feel natural in the last 12 months. He had asked if she would be seeing her mother, and while Rory had hesitated, she eventually filled her dad in on what had happened since the night of her graduation/engagement party. He hadn't been shocked; he knew that Lorelai was furious with their daughter's engagement and decision to move. Rory hadn't mentioned Shira's involvement, however, she did ask him if he had any idea as to how her mum had found out about the London offer. Christopher wasn't sure, explaining that he had been in New York for a few days. Logan believed him, and Rory did too, although she did find the way the timing aligned a little strange.

Rory looked up as she saw Logan approaching, noticing the thick wad of newspaper that he was carrying.  
"You know they have papers in London, don't you sweetie?"  
He glanced down at what he was carrying, "Well, yes, but I thought you would appreciate some reading material too," He passed her a pile of magazines, "It's a long flight."  
He sat next to Rory, drinking his coffee while reading the paper. Frowning slightly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He answered the  
call, from a private number, however, there was no one there. He ended the call, placing his phone on the table in front of them. A minute or so later,  
Rory's phone rang. She reached into her bag to answer the call, but there was no one on the other end.  
"That's strange," she mumbled.  
"What's strange, babe?"  
"That phone call, there was no one there."  
"Caller ID?" he questioned.  
"Nope, private number." She frowned as her phone rang again. Answering it, the same thing happened. She looked at Logan, "You don't think…?"  
Logan looked down at their phones, "Yeah, I do," As if on cue, his phone rang again. He didn't answer it, letting it go to his voicemail. "I really do."  
"What for? It's not like it's doing anything other than irritating us."  
"Maybe that's the point?" He questioned, "Maybe they just want to get into our heads."  
Rory pondered what he had said. "That's not really Lorelai's style. When she's mad, she's silent."  
"No," he agreed, "but it is Shira's."  
The boarding announcement for their flight came across the PA system.  
"Let's not worry about it now," he said, switching both of their phones off. "Time for our new adventure to begin."

Logan stretched his legs out in front of him, looking over at Rory who had embraced the spacious business class seat on the plane, he was amazed to see that she was fast asleep. He smiled to himself, _she looks so peaceful,_ he thought. He located a blanket and draped it over her, kissing her forehead he sat back in his seat and shut his eyes, hoping to get an hour or two's rest.  
As their plane landed at Heathrow a few hours later, Rory looked over at Logan with a huge grin on her face. "Welcome home, baby." she whispered, squeezing his hand.  
"I'm so excited about this, Ace, it's going to be brilliant. Just you and me and all of London."

It was a little after 11 pm when they finally got their suitcases and found their driver. Mitchum had organised for them to stay at a beautiful hotel in Kensington, which would allow them the opportunity to be tourists in their new town while they settled in. The concierge showed them up to their rooms, announcing that there had been a few deliveries arrive for them. Logan thanked him and gave him a tip as Rory wandered into the suite. She was amazed at the room, it's decorations were beautiful and there was an extremely large bunch of flowers on the coffee table. She read the card aloud to Logan, "To my baby brother and his exquisite fiancé, congratulations on the move! See you at Christmas. Love, Honor."  
Logan smiled, "Trust Honor to do that," he approached the buffet, where there was an HPG Welcome Basket (he recognised it from the one he received when he had arrived in London a few years ago), a bottle of champagne with a note attached, and an envelope with a letter. He opened the note and without thinking, read it aloud, "For the eventual demise of your plan." Rory walked over to him with, to his shock, a smile on her face, "Well, we know who that one is from, what's in the envelope?" She had a flick through the basket and found some chocolates that she decided to open.  
Logan proceeded to open the envelope and read it to himself. Rory waited until he was finished, and looked at him questioningly, "Well?" she asked.  
"You don't need to read this bullshit, babe. It's just my mum being her usual cheerful self."  
Rory shrugged, but took the letter from his hands, ignoring his protests. She read it out loud,

"Logan, I cannot support nor allow you to continue in your current direction. You need a wife who understands what it means to be part of society, not one who has been hidden away from it and raised in s town that no-one has heard of. We've been over this before. You need to fix it all now, I have the perfect young lady in mind for you, and I know she is interested in meeting you. Please, let Rory go so that the two of you can go back to the separate plans that have been laid out for you your whole lives. If the two of you remain together, we will be done. Please think about it. Love, mum."

Rory's smile dwindled, _she's never going to see him again?_ she thought. Her face betrayed her feelings, and she knew it.  
"Rory, please, don't give it any more thought. My mother is just being typical Shira. I couldn't care less if I never speak to her again, she only ever causes drama. Come on, Ace, I love you and only you."  
She knew he was being honest with her, "I love you more," she said, kissing him softly, "what are we going to do about our mothers and their meddling?"

Logan laughed, "Let's not think about that now baby, it's late and I want you…" he took her hand and led her into the bedroom.


	10. takes me home

"It's perfect Logan, it really is."  
Logan watched her as she wandered through the kitchen and informal dining area of the Chelsea house, and out in to the garden. He followed her out, standing in the sunshine next to her, "I agree, Ace, it's really amazing."  
Rory took his face in her hands and kissed him hard on his mouth. "Are you sure? Logan, it's huge! And it's a lot of money…"  
"Rory, I'm sure. This is going to be our home. Besides, it'll be a good investment long term."  
She smiled at his response, "Well then, Mr Huntzberger, I say this is the one."  
They went inside, where the estate agent was waiting for them. She talked them through some further information about the property, and also gave them the run down of the area including information about local schools.  
"The current owners are looking for a fairly expedited settlement, all things going well we are looking at 14 days. Does that work for you?"  
"The sooner the better," Logan responded. "We're really looking forward to getting settled," he said, wrapping an arm around Rory's waist as he stood next to her.  
"Perfect! Well, I'll get in touch with the owners and see exactly how soon they can settle. Did you want to have another look around?" The agent asked, motioning towards the staircase.  
"That'd be great, thanks," Rory responded as she took Logan's hand and walked upstairs.  
Rory began talking about paint colours, wondering aloud if it would be possible to have it done before they moved in. They ventured up to the fifth floor, they hadn't been up there earlier as the agent had explained that it was a simple guest room. They were amazed to find that there was a very large bedroom, bathroom, and kitchenette, creating more of a guest floor rather than a room.  
"It'll be perfect for when Honor and Josh visit over Christmas," Rory commented, "Do you think they'll be happy up there?"  
"They'll love it, babe," he responded, "but I really wish you would reconsider having at least one household staff member…" He knew that it was risky bringing this up with her again; the last time they had discussed having 'help' she blatantly refused, but he wanted her to know that it was an option.  
"Logan…you know how I feel about having a maid."  
"I know, I know, but what if we hired a housekeeper just for a few days a week? See how it goes? We're going to be crazy busy soon."  
Rory thought about what he had said as they walked down the stairs to have another look at the master bedroom. She knew that what he said was true, and that she would appreciate the help once it was there. emI'm completely over thinking this, /em she thought to herself. She knew, and she was sure that Logan did too, that her reluctance to have any help at home came from the views her mother had passed on to her about the type of people who have help at home.  
"OK," she said to Logan, "We'll get a housekeeper. 4 days a week at most. But I want to be on first name basis with them."  
Logan's mouth twitched a little, he had to fight it not to smile or laugh. "I have to say, I love this new confidence you've got. I think 4 days will be perfect."

They had wound up in a little cafe a few blocks down from the house and were eating lunch as Logan's phone rang. Both he and Rory jumped a little, but relaxed when they saw it was the real estate agent, who had been able to organise a 10-day settlement. She had negotiated with the owners to allow Rory and Logan to commence painting once the contract had been signed and the deposit transferred across to the owner, and congratulated them on the purchase. Logan rang Mitchum to let him know that the purchase was going ahead, and Mitchum was thrilled. Much to both Rory and Logan's shock, Mitchum advised that he would be covering the cost of the house, telling them to consider it an early wedding present. Logan was speechless, and so Rory spoke for the both of them when she thanked him. She tried to refuse, saying that they were prepared to pay for it, but Mitchum was having none of it. All Logan could muster was a quiet, "thanks, dad," but the lack of sarcasm let Mitchum know how much it was appreciated.

Rory and Logan had chosen a basic white for the walls of their home, there was a mishmash of colours throughout and so they had decided to start with a blank canvas. Logan had organised a contractor to commence work a few days after the contract had been signed, and they were both ecstatic that everything was moving forward.

A week later the painting had commenced, and Rory and Logan received their first piece of mail at their new house; it was also the first mail they had received addressed to both of them. It was an invitation to an event at HPG the following week, welcoming the two of them to London. Logan had RSVP'd immediately, but both he and Rory were concerned that Shira would make an appearance.

Mitchum flew in 2 days before the event, and asked Rory and Logan to meet him at the office for a brief meeting to discuss their new positions. Rory and Logan spent the morning lazing around in their hotel, they only had 1 night left there, and while they couldn't wait to move into their house, they were enjoying the ease of not having to worry about anything. "What am I going to wear?" Rory wondered out loud as she held up 3 different outfit choices for their meeting.  
"You could wear a garbage bag and Mitchum wouldn't raise an eyebrow," Logan responded, watching her standing in front of the mirror in her underwear. The mirror allowed him to admire her front and back, and while he didn't say anything he thought he noticed her stomach was the tiniest bit more rounded than normal.  
"Logan! I am not wearing a garbage bag to this meeting!"  
"Wear the grey skirt," he said as he walked past her to have a shower.

They arrived early at the HPG offices, and headed up to the conference room. Mitchum was amazed that Logan was on time, let alone early, commenting to his son, "I like this version of you, Logan, it's impressive."  
The meeting went well, it was more of a formality than anything. Both Logan and Rory were given contracts to sign, stating that they would be working alongside one another as the joint heads of HPG Europe, effective immediately. Mitchum explained that there would be more than enough assistance for at least 6 months, but that it was up to them how they wanted to divide the responsibilities. Mitchum suggested Rory take over the creative side of things and Logan the business, but reiterated that he expected them to work together and would be looking forward to weekly conference calls. Once the meeting was over, Logan offered to take Mitchum to see the new house, and he jumped at the opportunity. Rory excused herself; she needed to find a dress for the welcome party.

Rory vended up at Temperley, choosing a white and gold v-neck dress that had a tie at the waist. She loved the dress, and knew the exact shoes she would wear with it. She hadn't told the Huntzberger men the whole truth though, while she had needed to find a dress she also needed to purchase a test or two…


	11. this love is good

Logan arrived back at their hotel a few hours later, having just gotten off the phone with Finn. He walked into the bedroom, smiling as he saw Rory curled up on the bed reading a book. He noticed that she had changed into her Yale sweatpants and a t-shirt, and couldn't comprehend how she still managed to look so gorgeous.

"You really would look good in a garbage bag, babe."

She looked up as she heard his voice, feeling butterflies in her stomach.

"Oh shush, you. What'd your dad think of the house?" She asked, hoping that Mitchum had been impressed with the house.

"He loved it," Logan kissed her on the lips, "Did you find a dress?"

"I did, I bought something for you too," she motioned for him to sit down, and retrieved a box from next to the bed. "I hope you like it," she said softly as she passed him the box.

Logan smiled at her, "I'm sure I'll love it, Ace,"

She watched him carefully as he untied the black ribbon, and lifted the lid off the box. She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.

Logan let out a small gasp as he removed the lid off of the box. At first glance, he saw that there were a few items in the box, but his eyes widened as he saw a pregnancy test with its own little bow around it, with 2 lines in the window. He looked up at Rory with a huge smile on his face.

"Seriously?" he questioned, "I mean, you're not joking? This is real?"

Rory smiled at him, "Yep, it's real."

"Oh baby, that is amazing! I can't believe…oh wow, Ace, this is brilliant!"

It was the first time that Rory had ever known Logan to struggle to speak in full sentences, and she was so glad that he was just as excited as she was. She leant over and kissed him, noticing that he had a few tears running down his face. She wiped them away with her fingers, kissing him once more before she sat back on the bed. She tapped the box impatiently with her fingers, wanting him to look at the other things she had put in there.

"Ok, ok, just a tad excited over here!" he said with a laugh. He put the test down and peered into the box. Rory had bought him a copy of 'What to Expect When You're Expecting' and a picture book called 'Cuddles for Daddy'. He smiled as he flicked through the picture book, and had to bite his cheek to hold back tears as he saw that she had written inside the cover: "You are already the best daddy in the whole world. I can't wait to meet you soon! Love, bug."

"Rory, this is incredible, I love you."

"I love you too, Logan, I'm so glad you're happy."

"Of course I am, babe, this is the best thing in the world." He looked back down at the box and found a tiny pair of white baby booties, and a onesie. He picked the onesie up, and saw that it said: "I love my daddy".

Rory watched as he held the onesie up, she had seen it when she was looking for the booties and couldn't resist. She knew that it wasn't what a Huntzberger baby would normally wear, but she had hoped that it would melt his heart. She noticed that Logan had tears in his eyes, so she moved the box over on the bed and crawled across to him. She kissed his cheek as she pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around him.

"You are going to be the most wonderful dad," she whispered, "You'll be incredible."

He smiled at her through his tears, "Thank you," he whispered.

He kissed her, softly at first, and then a little more deeply. He looked into her eyes as he remembered watching her getting ready that morning. "Stand up for a sec, babe,"

Rory smiled at him and stood up, she knew exactly what he was thinking about as she lifted her shirt a little to reveal her stomach. He ran his fingers over it softly, pausing when he reached the spot that was a little softer, perhaps even the tiniest bit rounder than usual.

"I noticed this this morning," he whispered as he kissed her tummy gently, "Hello in there, I'm your daddy."

Rory felt tears running down her face as Logan spoke in hushed tones to her stomach. She had known that he would be excited, but his reaction had completely caught her off guard. She leant down and kissed his forehead, realising just how in love with him she was.

Logan continued talking for a few minutes, kissing her stomach softly, he stood up and looked at Rory. "Wow," he whispered, "Just…wow."

"I know, sweetie, I know."

They ordered room service for dinner so that they could celebrate alone without any interruptions. Snuggled up on the couch, they talked about the baby's room, wondering together whether they would have a boy or a girl. Suddenly, Rory realised that she would need to tell Mitchum that she would need some time off of work.

"Don't worry about it, Rory, seriously. He's going to be a grandpa, he'll be thrilled,"

"But it's a big deal, Logan. He could be annoyed."

"Trust me, babe, he will be over the moon. I think we should be more wary of our mothers finding out, to be honest."

"Oh. Do we really need to tell them?" As much as it hurt Rory to feel this way, she didn't want to think about what Lorelai and Shira would do with the information.

"Well, considering Mitchum and Shira live together, I'm pretty sure they're going to find out…"

"I don't even want to think about it," Rory said, burying her head into a cushion.

"Let's just let it play out then. As long as we are completely honest with each other, we have nothing to worry about. Let's spend our energy focusing on how we're going to tell Uncle Finn."

Rory laughed at Logan's suggestion, not knowing whether Finn would be horrified (a baby meant a lot of bodily fluids…) or excited. "Oh, before I forget, we have an obstetrician appointment next Wednesday."

"And you seriously only found out this afternoon? Organisation freak much?" Logan said with a laugh; he knew Rory's organisational skills would be of benefit during pregnancy and even into parenthood.

"I was a busy bee this afternoon. I was just a little bit excited."

"Control freak," he whispered as he kissed her, "But I love that about you."

"I love you too, Logan," she kissed him back hard, moving to straddle him and pulling her shirt over her head.


	12. what you've done

The following evening, Logan admired Rory from across the room, watching as she socialised with a group of editors from HPG publications. He had excused himself to get drinks, a scotch for him and a club soda for her Really though, he had just wanted an excuse to gaze at her; they had a secret that no one else was in on.  
"Rory looks lovely tonight, as per usual,"  
Logan jumped a little as he heard his father's voice, but he caught himself quickly. "She always looks beautiful," he responded, "quite a party, dad,"  
"New management always needs to be celebrated, Logan. Besides, I think everyone is looking forward to working with a more youthful team. How did your move go?"  
"First night last night, realised we need more furniture. We're going to be sorting that out tomorrow, though."  
"Good, good. Your mother will want to see, perhaps we could come by tomorrow and take the two of you out for dinner?"  
Logan laughed before realising that his father was being serious. "No, dad. That's not going to happen. Not after everything that's gone on."  
"Water under the bridge, Logan. She's your mother. Who apparently finally decided to make an appearance." Mitchum downed his drink before ordering another.  
Logan followed his father's gaze, and saw his mother air-kissing her way across the room. He watched the path that she was heading in, and realised that there was no way he would reach Rory before Shira did. Without saying a word to Mitchum, he power-walked to where Shira had just kissed Rory's cheek. Rory didn't say a word, but she didn't need to. Her eyes found Logan's and communicated everything that she was feeling: confused, angry, sad, shocked, scared.  
"Mother," Logan started quietly. As much as he did not want to speak to her, he knew that he couldn't cause a scene. "what on Earth do you think you're doing?"  
Shira smiled tightly, "Logan," she kissed him on both cheeks before continuing, "how are you, darling?"  
Logan looked at Rory, grabbing one of her hands to let her know that he would do his best to contain his mother, before speaking to Shira "Rory and I were just about to leave,"  
Shira's eyes flitted between Logan and Rory, "No, stay, we have so much catching up to do."

Rory paused, Logan had begun to turn to walk away, but her resistance made him stop, "Logan, wait, let's play her game," she whispered.

Logan grimaced, he could not think of anything worse than spending time with Shira, but he decided to entertain her, for a few minutes at least.

Rory was the first to speak, the silence between Logan and his mother had lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like hours. "Shira, it's lovely to see you. How are you enjoying London?"

"Not as much as you, it would appear," Shira responded, not taking her eyes off of Logan.

Rory was puzzled; how could Shira possibly know anything? She squeezed Logan's hand, hoping that he would get the hint and respond.

He was just as confused as Rory was but didn't want to let anything slip, just in case Shira was fishing. "I'm guessing dad told you about the house? We're thrilled, the painting's been done and we'll have it furnished within the next few days."

"Oh no, Logan, I'm not talking about the house. Although I do know all about that. I'm talking about something else…something that will be making an appearance in a number of months." As she finished the sentence, Shira's eyes fluttered to Rory's midsection and then straight back into Logan's eyes. "Logan, how could you? It's one thing to be engaged; but this? You have no decency."

Logan had had enough. Rory could tell by the way his hand had gripped hers even tighter, slightly moving her backwards and away from his mother. "That is none of your god damn business," he seethed, "Stay out of it. Stay away from us."

He turned and looked at Rory, "Come on, baby, let's go."

The cab ride home had been fairly quiet, Logan had snuggled in close to Rory, needing to be as close as physically possible. Rory just wanted to forget about the interaction with Shira and go back into their little London bubble. They made their way inside, and Logan instinctively went into the kitchen to make tea for them both. He walked upstairs to their bedroom, where Rory was laying on their bed with her hands placed on her belly.

"Wow Ace, you're perfect," he handed her a cup of tea and sat on the other side of the bed.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked, "that was quite an evening."

"I just…I just don't know how she knew," Logan said quietly.

"Her reach appears to be never-ending, babe. For all we know she was digging through our rubbish at the hotel."

Logan suppressed a laugh, "That wouldn't be beneath her, you know."

"So you didn't tell anyone, not even Finn?" Rory was really curious about how Shira had found out. She knew that it wasn't a lucky guess.

"Not even Honor," he responded, "you didn't either? Not Lane?"

Rory shook her head, "The only person I told was the receptionist at the obstetrician's office…" She trailed off, thinking through the conversation in her head, "the American receptionist."

"She really has no limits, babe. We're changing doctors though, I'll do some research," Logan took Rory's cup and placed it on the floor with his, "I'm exhausted Ace," he yawned.

Rory stood up and undid her dress, letting it drop to the floor. "Sleep, sweetie," she whispered as she got into bed and cuddled in close, "I love you."

"Love you more, beautiful," he said, kissing her head.

Logan woke a few hours later, his head pounding. He wandered downstairs in search of a glass of water and some paracetamol. Opening his laptop that he left on the kitchen island, he decided to do some research into maternity care options in London. He had found a few options to suggest to Rory, but thought he would run them past Honor first. He didn't want to break Rory's trust, but he really needed some advice from his sister. Looking at the clock, he noticed it was 3 am so 11 pm in New York. Biting the bullet, he picked up his phone and called Honor.

"Baby brother!" she answered cheerfully, "Isn't it a little late to be calling?"

"How are you, Honor? I missed you."

"I'm good, Logan, but I hear you're better,"

"And how did you find out? Mother dearest?"

"Come on, Logan, I don't speak to that woman unless forced. No, one of my friends happened to be at your event. She called me a few hours ago and filled me in, I was expecting your call."

Logan rolled his eyes, _trust Honor to have friends across the globe_ , he thought. "Well between you and me, it's true. No one else is supposed to know, but I need some advice."

"Oh Logan, I would be going into damage control if I were you. Half of Hartford will already know, and the other half will know by 9 am. But advice I can do, hit me."

"I need to know about doctors and hospitals in London. Rory had chosen one but they had some confidentiality issues…"

He ventured back upstairs, laying next to Rory and pulling her in close. A few hours later Rory awoke, the sunlight streaming into their bedroom. Logan murmured in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the light in the room.

"Good morning gorgeous," She said with a smile, sitting up in bed.

"Morning, Ace." He kissed her softly, "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Pretty good…" she trailed off as she felt the overwhelming sensation of needing to be sick. Jumping up, she ran into the bathroom and emptied the contents of her stomach.

"You alright, babe?" He asked, following her into the bathroom.

She met him at the door, "I can't deal with 9 months of this! No way!" She turned around and threw up again.

He rubbed her back, not too sure that he could say anything that would make the situation any better. When Rory decided she was finished, Logan got her a glass of water and guided her back into bed. "Well, I thought this might help you a little. I did some research last night," he said, passing her some pages that he had printed out earlier that morning.

She flicked through them, raising her eyebrows at the hospitals and obstetricians that he had selected. "Logan, these are all too much. Seriously."

"Hear me out, babe, please. I spoke to Honor last night, these are her recommendations based on extensive research and some high-profile friends."

"Okay…well, this one," she said, pointing to the one on the top of the pile.

"Why do I get the feeling this was your first choice originally?" he asked her with a smile.

"You'll never know, Huntzberger."

Logan laughed, contemplating tickling her when his phone beeped, receiving a message: 'Logan, we'll be there at 5 pm. Dinner's booked for 7. No negotiating.'

"For fuck's sake," Logan said under his breath. Rory looked at him questioningly, and in response he passed her his phone.

"It's just one night, sweetie. We can do this."


	13. right here by my side

Rory stood in their bedroom, twisting slightly in front of the mirror to check her navy wrap dress was fitting properly. She felt strange, she was almost 6 weeks pregnant and was sure that it was obvious to the entire world. She was stepping into her shoes as Logan walked back in the room, buttoning the final buttons on his shirt.

"You look gorgeous Ace, bean is definitely not showing yet," He walked over to her and ran his hands down her sides, bringing them to rest on her belly. He knew she was feeling self-conscious about her body at the moment, and would do anything possible to make her feel less so. They had decided that while 'bug' was a cute name, 'bean' suited better.

"I feel awful," Rory's morning sickness had definitely set in that day, Logan had thought that morning sickness meant _morning_ sickness, not all day sickness. It hadn't been constant, but there were a few times while they were out and about that she had needed to locate a bathroom.

"I'll call them and tell them that you're too unwell," Logan sounded happy about this option.

"And delay the inevitable? No, we're doing this,"

"You're incredible, Ace. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure that your mother is going to do her best to cause trouble, yes. I'm sure that she will comment on the lack of furniture here, and probably something about the size of our house and how it's much too large for 2 people. Oh, and she'll more than likely tell your father that I can't possibly work for HPG because of the baby. But yes, I'm sure. You and I can handle this together, babe. It's going to be fine." She smiled at Logan, knowing he needed some reassurance from her. They both knew that Shira's visit would definitely be one to remember; Rory had jokingly suggested having a tape recorder handy so that they could play the highlights to Honor.

They made their way down to the ground floor to wait for Mitchum and Shira, sitting in their study. Their shopping trip earlier in the day had been extremely successful, they had managed to purchase furniture for the majority of their house which was planned to be delivered throughout the following week. Their desks and chairs, along with a beautiful vintage chesterfield lounge, had all been delivered that afternoon. Neither of them had expected them to be delivered on a Sunday, however, they were extremely happy to have somewhere to sit other than their bed. They sat together on the lounge, chatting about their appointment in 3 days time; Logan was amazed that they would be able to see their little bean so soon. Rory pulled out her phone, and opened up her 'What to Expect' app, showing Logan what their baby currently looked like and how big it was. She had entered all of the dates and the app had estimated that she was around 6 weeks.

"That will be confirmed at our scan though, they'll give us a due date and everything,"

Logan had taken the phone from her and was scrolling through the app.

"So bean is really a lentil at the moment? Rory, this is incredible!" He took his phone out of his pocket and passed it to her, asking her to set the app up for him.

She entered all of the details in, and passed it back to him. "You're going to be reading this constantly, aren't you?"

"Yep, that ok with you?"

She smiled and kissed him softly on the tip of his nose as their doorbell rang.

"Brace yourself," he mumbled under his breath.

"Well, it certainly is rather large," Shira commented as they walked through the kitchen and out into the garden. "It is beautiful though, I can see why the two of you chose it."

Rory raised an eyebrow at Logan; they hadn't been expecting compliments from Shira.

"Yes, well, it's the house we plan to raise a family in. And we figured we would be having quite a few house guests so it makes sense."

"Yes, I hear congratulations are due!" Mitchum boomed, slapping Logan on the back. "Rory, Logan, I am thrilled, a Huntzberger baby. Wonderful, just wonderful."

"Thanks, dad," Logan pulled Rory closer to him, "we are both beyond excited. The baby is only tiny at the moment, the size of a lentil actually, we learnt that today."

Rory beamed, it was rare that Logan ever sounded as excited as he did in that moment.

"A little soon for a baby really," Shira began, "and I would've preferred a wedding first, but yes, congratulations. Very exciting."

It was Logan's turn to be surprised, squeezing Rory's hand he couldn't believe what his mother was saying. _Dad must've said something to her,_ he thought.

After touring the house, they had settled in for dinner at a restaurant a few blocks away, managing to get through their starters with fairly pleasant conversation. Rory quickly excused herself from the table; she had suddenly felt extremely queasy and rushed to the bathroom.

"Logan," Shira began, "this is getting ridiculous. End this now!"

"Shira! Enough," Mitchum had had enough of his wife's attitude about their son's relationship.

"No, Mitchum, I've had enough of this! It seems I'm the only one who is thinking about our family's name. How do you know the baby's even yours, Logan?"

Logan was stunned, he didn't even know where to begin with his mother. She took his silence as a sign that he was listening to what she was saying.

"All I'm asking is that you do the right thing for _our_ family, darling. End this now, come home, and we can forget this ever happened."

Logan looked at Mitchum, shock all over his face, "Are you really going to just sit there while she says all of this, dad?"

"Logan, you know how I feel. I've given HPG Europe to both of you, together. We've put a house in both of your names. I think this is a positive move for you and Rory. I just want you to be happy, son." Mitchum shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what else he could do to convince Logan that he was on their side.

"Mitchum! How could you! You're supporting this?" Shira was flabbergasted, she didn't realise what her husband had done.

"Mum, this is getting old now. You're either going to get onboard with everything, or you'll leave us the hell alone." Logan stood up, pushing his chair back. "I'm going to go and find my fiance, the mother of my child, and take her home. She doesn't need this kind of stress right now." He stalked off in the direction of the bathrooms, leaving his mother with a very shocked expression.

Rory walked out of the bathroom feeling worse than she had throughout the day. As she opened the door, she spotted Logan standing there, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. His positioning, along with the scowl on his face that had been replaced by a smile as soon as he saw her, reminded her of their time at Yale; she had found him in similar positions, waiting for her to walk by.

"Everything ok?" he asked quietly.

"I can't keep anything down," she whispered quietly. She didn't want to sound as though she was complaining, but she truly felt horrid. "Do you think they have flat lemonade here?"

Logan laughed at her request, "Flat lemonade, hey Ace? Only the fizzy stuff here. Let's head home and I'll get some for you,"

"No, no, I'll be ok, we can't just leave…"

Logan interrupted her, "Shira's up to her usual antics, and I don't want you to have to deal with that. We're leaving. Up to the walk?"

Rory was confused, "Walking would be good actually. But Logan, we're in the middle of dinner. We can't just leave."

"It's fine, baby. Dad is dealing with her at the moment; I'll call him in the morning." He took her hand, and led her out of the restaurant. Looking back at his parents, he saw Mitchum and Shira having what looked like a heated argument. He caught his father's eye and waved goodbye, Mitchum nodding at him in response.


	14. in my stomach is butterflies

"Rory Gilmore?" A soft but assertive voice questioned. Rory and Logan both looked up, smiling at the woman who had called her name.

"Yes, that's me," Rory responded, "and this is my fiance, Logan."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Come on through," She guided them up a small hallway, and into her office. She noticed Logan squeeze Rory's hand, "It's perfectly normal to feel nervous, Logan, but there's really no need."

Logan laughed a little, _his nervous laugh,_ Rory thought. She knew just how nervous Logan was, and had done everything possible to reassure him. But she knew that most of his nerves were due to his mother's reaction to their engagement and pregnancy. He hadn't told her what had been said, other than to let her know that Mitchum was in full support of their relationship. Rory knew it must've been bad for him to stay quiet on the matter, but she also suspected that her own mother would continue her attack soon enough.

"Alright Rory, how are you feeling? I see from your last blood tests that you're a little over 6 weeks along, does that sound about right?" Rory liked this doctor, she seemed nurturing but not too overbearing, and she had a pleasant bedside manner.

"To be honest, I feel pretty ordinary," Rory began, to which Logan raised an eyebrow, "but yes, about 6 and a half weeks."

"Any morning sickness? Spotting? Cramping?"

"No spotting or cramping, there was a bit about 2 weeks ago, but nothing since,"

"And sickness? Any other symptoms?"

Rory bit her lip, she didn't want to complain about her symptoms. Logan noticed this, and decided to respond for her.

"Yes, she's been sick quite a bit over the past 5 days. She's been really struggling to keep anything down."

"OK," the doctor responded, "Let's keep an eye on that over the next few weeks. If it becomes unbearable there are options we have available." She looked down at Rory's blood results again, "Rory, your HCG levels seem quite high from your last test, let's do another and see if that's changed." Noticing Rory and Logan's faces she quickly continued, "It's absolutely nothing to worry about, but we do need to check on the levels. Why don't the two of you go down the hall and get the test done, grab some lunch and come back in an hour or so? I'll have the results by then and we'll do an ultrasound."

Rory nodded, as much as she hated needles she knew that she would need to get used to them.

They headed to a little cafe for a light lunch, Rory ordering a juice and plain croissant, hoping that she would be able to keep them down.

"I was thinking we could go and have a look at some Nursery furniture afterwards. What do you think, Ace?"

"You don't want to wait until we're out of the first trimester, babe?" Rory wasn't superstitious, but she was worried about what would happen if things didn't go as planned.

Logan shrugged, "We could just have a look, never know, we might find something perfect."

Rory smiled, agreeing to look, even though she knew that it never ended with looking when Logan went shopping.

He glanced down at his watch, "Time to go back, sweetie," he said with a smile, "It's time to see our baby!"

They settled into the doctor's office once again, nervously waiting for their ultrasound.

"Alright Rory, these results are still on the high end of the scale. But as I said, nothing to worry about. It could indicate that you are a little further along than we thought, but it generally indicates a very healthy pregnancy." She gestured over to the bed that was set up beside an ultrasound machine, "Ready to meet your baby, guys?"

Logan was shocked when he saw the doctor bring out a long wand, "Umm, what's that for?" he asked innocently.

Rory smiled at him, as the doctor responded, "It's too early to see much in an external exam, so we'll be doing an internal ultrasound today."

Logan grimaced, he hadn't been expecting to hear that and couldn't recall reading that in the book Rory had brought him or on the app.

The doctor proceeded with the ultrasound, pressing a few buttons on a keyboard in front of her, making the screen come to life. It looked like a fuzzy TV screen to Logan and Rory, but the doctor continued with the scan.

"OK, so here is your baby," she pointed to a little blob on the screen.

Rory's eyes filled with tears, "Hi there, bean". Logan kissed her hand softly, wriggling a little closer to her.

"And this is why you've been feeling so unwell already," the doctor began. Logan's ears perked up, hoping to hear about something he could do to alleviate Rory's sickness. "Meet your second baby, baby b."

Logan shook his head, "Excuse me?"

The doctor smiled, "Rory, Logan, you're having twins!"

Rory couldn't speak, but her face showed her shock. The doctor looked her in the eyes before continuing, "Now, I know this is probably quite a shock, but you will be absolutely fine. It will mean that you'll be spending a little bit more time with me, so you may want to look at some shared care with a midwifery group for financial reasons. But honestly, this is really exciting." She looked over at Logan, "I'm just going to do a few more images so that we can make sure they're both healthy, but it looks as though they are identical, which basically means that the egg has split after fertilisation."

Logan looked at Rory, "Twins?" he said quietly, with the hint of a smile playing on his lips.

"Twins it is, babe. Two babies! Oh my god, we're going to be beyond busy!" Rory caught herself before she started rambling.

The doctor laughed at their conversation, smiling at their calmness, she thought to herself. It had been a while since she had seen a couple be comfortable with the thought of having twins.

Wandering through a baby shop close by their house, Rory was overwhelmed with choice. She hadn't had much experience with babies, and didn't even know where to begin.

"Honor will help us," Logan whispered in her ear, "Let's just have a look, we don't need to buy anything."

Rory smiled at him, knowing full well that they would be leaving with multiple purchases. _Two mini Huntzberger's? How am I going to handle that!?_ she couldn't help thinking. She knew that their babies would be loved by their family around them, and was getting more excited by the minute to tell her grandparents.

A shop assistant wandered over to them, clearly aware of their inexperience. Before Rory could get out her perfunctory, 'we're just browsing', Logan had responded.

"Just thought we'd pop in for a look, we're having twins that are due on 21 February."

The shop assistant smiled at them, and as much as Rory wanted to, she couldn't muster up any annoyance with the woman. "Well, I can show you a few things, but it's best if you do some research on what styles and colours you prefer. My daughter had twins earlier this year, and trust me, research is now your new best friend." She showed them around the store, giving them the rundown on bassinets and cots. As much as Logan protested, she wouldn't let them purchase anything other than two hand knitted pram blankets in white, one had a giraffe on the bottom and the other a hippo. Before they left, she handed them her business card, and also gave them a print out of suggested items that they'd need, explaining that it was one she had put together with her daughter. Logan and Rory both farewelled her, promising that they would be back once they had made a few decisions.

One of the things that Rory loved about living in Chelsea was it's proximity to everything. She could comfortably walk to most places, which meant that they were now walking home rather than taking a cab. On their walk home, they talked about calling Honor, Finn, and Rory's grandparents so that they could share their happy news. Logan organised tea for them both, along with a very large glass of water for Rory as the doctor had suggested that she increase her water intake, while Rory set up her laptop in their office. Logan walked in, smiling at how she had positioned it: they could both sit on their couch together so that they could Skype their loved ones.

"So, who are we calling first?" Logan asked her.

"I thought my grandparents? I think they'll be thrilled. I'm just hoping that it hasn't spread to them yet…"

"It'll be fine, Ace, they are going to be so excited," he put their teas down on the edge of his desk, and pressed the call button next to the Gilmore's names.

The call rang a few times before Emily answered. "Oh Rory, Logan, what a wonderful surprise!"

The trio exchanged greetings and pleasantries before Rory asked where her grandfather was.

"Just making a coffee, darling, he'll be up in a moment. Now tell me all about your wonderful home!"

Richard joined the call a few minutes later, Logan and Rory giggling a little at the conversation her grandparents were having about needing to be comfortable on the one chair.

"Richard, Emily," Logan began, "Rory and I have some news,"

They both stopped their bickering, "Yes?" they asked, both smiling.

"Well, Grandma, Grandpa, Logan and I are going to be parents!"

Richard and Emily beamed through the screen, congratulating the couple on their news.

"Hang on, hang on, there's more," Rory continued, "We're having twins!"

Emily couldn't contain her excitement, tears running down her face. "Oh, my darling that is absolutely wonderful news. I'm so excited for you both. When are you due?"

Richard was speechless, but his face managed to convey his joy at their news.

"The babies are due on the 21st of February, Emily," Logan responded, "but the doctor said to be ready anytime from mid-January."

"How perfect, little winter angels. Now I'm assuming this means that you won't be coming home for Christmas?"

"No, I don't think so, Grandma. It'll be a little late to be travelling."

"Well, we'll just have to bring Christmas to you!"

Their conversation continued for a while, Richard finally regaining the ability to speak and share their news.

Once the call had ended, Rory looked at Logan, "So, Honor or Finn? Your choice," she said, poking her tongue out at him.

"Let's call Honor, give Finn a little longer to wake up,"

Rory pressed the phone next to Honor's name, tilting the screen a little so that they could see it properly as the sunlight had changed a little in the light-filled office.

Honor answered on the first ring, congratulating Rory before either Logan or Rory could say hello.

Honor asked what felt like a million questions before Logan was able to get a word out.

"Honor, Honor, stop! We have something else to tell you!"

"Don't you dare tell me that you're married or something, I couldn't miss that!"

"No, nothing like that, Honor," Rory said with a smile, _Although….._ she thought to herself.

Logan continued speaking, "Open the file that I just sent you,"

They watched as Honor opened the image file that Logan had just sent through on Skype.

"Umm guys, I know you think your baby is the cutest and all, but all I can see are a few blobs,"

"Look again," Rory said quietly, "How many blobs do you see?"

Honor went quiet for a few moments, "Two? You're having twins! Oh my god you two, this is brilliant!"

Logan laughed at his sister's reaction, kissing Rory softly.

Honor began a monologue on baby items and pregnancy foods, and so Logan excused himself, leaving Rory to take everything in.

He returned 20 minutes later, interrupting Honor and promising they would call her in the next few days to talk more.

"Wow, she can be a little intense sometimes, babe," Rory said. "But seriously, she's given me so much to think about!"

"I know, Ace, but her heart's in the right place," he said, handing Rory another glass of water, "Finn?"

Rory's expression changed, Logan recognising it as her 'I'm-going-to-be-sick-get-out-of-my-way' face. He quickly handed her a bucket as she ran to the bathroom. He followed her, making sure she was ok.

They walked back to their office a minute or so after, Logan making sure Rory was comfortable on the lounge before calling Finn. To their amusement, Rosemary answered the Skype call, and was joined by Finn as soon as he realised who was calling.

"Mr Huntzberger, to what do I owe the pleasure of a _video_ call? Are you showing a home movie?"

Rory burst into a fit of giggles, while Rosemary swatted Finn playfully on the arm.

"No, Finn, just wanted to see your pretty face, we've missed you!"

"Haven't we all?" Finn responded, "How are you both?"

"Well, we're good, _Uncle_ Finn, how are you?" Rory said with a sly grin.

Finn had begun to respond, but Rosemary quickly interrupted him, "What do you mean by 'Uncle Finn'?"

Finn looked at Rosemary, and then back at Rory and Logan's faces on the screen. "Yes, what does that mean?" He paused for a moment, "Are you….are you…..are you making me an uncle?" he almost screamed.

Logan couldn't help but laugh at his best friend's reaction. "Wait for the best part, mate,"

Rory smiled at Logan, "Finn, you're going to be an uncle to two babies," she said slowly, making sure he understood the bit about the two babies.

Rosemary looked shocked, but grinned at them as she congratulated them. Finn would later deny it, but he had tears running down his face as he looked at his two friends.

"Wow guys, that is incredible. Congratulations. How are you feeling, love?"

Rory loved the concern that Finn had, he had always made sure that she was ok, "I'm alright Finn, I feel pretty ordinary, but nothing I can't deal with."

"And how did the dark lord take this information?" Finn questioned, referring to Logan's father.

"He is thrilled, Finn, he's a changed man since we got engaged," Logan responded, "Bellatrix, however…not so thrilled. Working hard to break us,"

"I must say I'm loving these Potter references, boys," Rosemary said.

"Yes, is Bellatrix a new name for your mother? That's almost worse than calling Mitchum 'the dark lord'," Finn responded, "Clever though, but it must be bad if that's how we're referring to her nowadays,"

"You have no idea, mate,"

The four friends talked for a while, their conversation drifting to Christmas, and plans for Finn and Rosemary to join them for the holidays.

"Well, we have at least six people who are sharing in our happiness, sweetie" Logan whispered to Rory as they lay in bed that night. "Six is better than none,"

"I know, and I'm already excited about Christmas, it's going to be beautiful!"

They began to discuss sleeping arrangements for their family for the holidays, they planned to be fairly insistent that everyone stay with them while they were visiting. Their conversation was cut short by Logan's phone ringing. He answered it, but there was no one there.

"Strange," he said out loud.

Rory's phone rang a second later, giving her instant flashbacks to their experience in the airport. She answered, and no one was there. Hanging up, it rang again within seconds. Logan's phone did the same. They waited until the incoming calls had stopped, and both switched their phone's off.

"New numbers tomorrow, I think," Rory stated.

"We'll get the office to organise it first thing," Logan said. Kissing her softly, he ran his fingers down her body, catching the bottom of her shirt and pulling it up, making his intentions clear. Rory kissed him back, sitting up to pull her shirt over her head. She made to move so that she was on top of him, before he pushed her back down so that he was above her. He kissed her lips deeply, before getting lost in her body.


	15. he really knows me

Rory sighed as she slowly woke up, her eyes searching in the darkened room for her phone. She picked it up, checking the time. _Definitely the wrong side of 7 am,_ she thought, registering that her phone said 6:17 am. Making a rule 6 weeks ago that there was no work at home after 7 pm, she had taken to checking her emails as soon as she woke up. In her mind it allowed her to plan for the day ahead and dress accordingly. Logan had made fun of her system, but she knew that he did the same as well. While her emails loaded, she glanced over at his side of the bed; she knew he had gotten up at 5:15 to go for a run but he still left a note on his pillow just to remind her. In his words, baby brain was a real thing and began as soon as pregnancy started. She had rolled her eyes at him when he had come out with that line, however, he had a plethora of research to back him up, which he had handed to her with glee.

She scrolled through her emails while she stretched her legs and reached for the bland biscuits her doctor had advised her to snack on before getting out of bed each morning. Rory didn't really understand why she had recommended it, sure it worked for some women but they hadn't helped her at all. She wasn't sure what she noticed first: her desperate need to empty her stomach contents or the email sitting her inbox from 'Hayden, Christopher'.

Logan flicked the kettle on as he walked through the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge, and wandered up to their bedroom. He heard the shower running, and deciding to surprise her in there, began taking his clothes off as he walked through the room. By the time he got to the bathroom door, which she had left wide open, he was completely naked. He stood and admired his fiancé for a few seconds, before opening the shower door and wrapping his arms around her.

"Ace…you look sexier by the second…" he whispered in her ear, slowly kissing the side of her neck and down onto her shoulder.

She smiled at his greeting, wrapping one arm around his neck as she leant back into him, "You know that's physically impossible, don't you?" She let out a small moan as his kisses trailed back up her neck.

"Oh, trust me, it's possible," One of his hands moved down and rested on her stomach, that had definitely grown in size over the past 6 weeks. "There's something about you being pregnant…it makes you infinitely hotter," he said slowly, his kisses reaching her ear an moving down the other side of her neck.

She wanted him so much in that moment, but instead of coming back with a clever retort or simply pushing him up against the shower wall, she leant forward as she there up for the third time that morning. She had to give it to him, he didn't jump back or say anything that would make her feel bad about vomiting in the shower. He rubbed her back gently, before asking her if she was alright.

"Your children are going to be the death of me!" she declared, although the sides of her mouth twitched a little as she looked him in the eyes.

"Doctors today, yeah?" he said, passing her his bottle of water that he'd left on the bathroom floor. "Perhaps let's tell her exactly how bad you're feeling?"

Rory tilted her head to the side, knowing that he was right. She had completely underplayed how ill she had been to the obstetrician, not wanting to be a burden or a whinger. But today, she decided, she would tell her the truth.

"Alright, I'll tell her," she sipped on the water while Logan got her a fluffy towel from the cupboard. "How was your run, babe?"

"It was good, not too sure how much longer I'll be able to go at 5:30 though, it was freezing this morning," Logan followed her into the bedroom, sitting on the bed with his towel wrapped around his waist. "Anything new on your schedule for the day?"

"Marketing meeting at 9, your dad's conference call at 10:30, doctor at 12, oh, and I've got an interview for the online marketing manager's position at 2 - wanna join?"

Logan laughed at her invitation; the last time they'd interviewed someone together they completely scared the person off with their banter and long glances at one another. "Yeah, why not, could be interesting. Might need to remind dad that we've only got an hour today. My day looks more or less the same as yours, babe. Just a finance briefing at 4. Dinner tonight?"

"Already done, darling," she said, "Now do you think I can get away with wearing sweatpants to the office?"

"Alright dad, we've got to get going, 12 week check up in 45 minutes," Logan said on the phone, smiling across at Rory.

"Of course, of course. How are you feeling, Rory?"

"Oh, you know, not the best, but I'll get there," Rory blushed even though the Atlantic Ocean was between them.

"She's lying dad, she feels like rubbish. Surprisingly doesn't look it though,"

"Well, whatever you need, just let me know. Before you two go, there's an event that you'll both need to attend in New York next month. I'll send you the details." And with that, he ended the call.

"New York?" Rory raised an eyebrow at Logan, "Did you know anything about that?"

"About as much as you did, babe," he got up and wandered over to the other side of his desk, where she was sitting, "We'll probably need to make an appearance, but it'll be fine, I'm sure,"

She looked at him warily, rolling her eyes. "Guess we can visit my grandparents while we're there," she shrugged her shoulders and stood up, smoothing her skirt down over her thighs. "Time to get go…" she started, before running in the direction of the bathroom.

They decided to walk over to the doctor's office, chatting about the babies the whole way there. The doctor saw them almost immediately, and could tell from the concerned look on Logan's face that there was something playing on the minds of the couple.

"So, how're you feeling Rory?" the doctor asked after they sat down, "Logan looks like he's about to burst."

"I've been feeling quite sick, Alice," Rory said quietly.

Logan looked between the doctor and Rory, shaking his head. Rory was still downplaying how unwell she was. "Alice, she's been vomiting about 15 times per day and can barely keep anything down,"

"Nothing, Rory?"

"Not really, small sips of water are ok but that's about it,"

Alice glanced down at Rory's last blood test results, "Let's do a scan and make sure these babies are healthy and growing, then we can talk about some options for you,"

Alice set Rory up on the bed, and began the scan. Logan watched as she pressed the buttons, a little more comfortable this time with the external scanner, squeezing Rory's hand as the doctor announced that they were seeing baby a. She took some images, and then moved on to baby b, smiling at their reactions to seeing both babies.

"Ok, guys, the babies are healthy, but I'm worried about you, Rory,"

"Aren't we all," Logan mumbled under his breath.

"The best thing for you is rest, keeping hydrated, and keeping your stress to a complete minimum. I'm going to give you a prescription for Zofran, which Logan is going to get filled for you. If you need to have any more than 1 per day, I want you to call me immediately and we will reassess." She looked Rory in her eyes, "I'm not joking about this, Rory, you need to stay healthy so that these babies can grow. I'm not putting you on bed rest yet, but that will be an option if you don't start to feel better soon. Please take it easy, maybe consider some time off of work,"

They left the doctor's office, and Logan was insistent that they head home. Rory reminded him of the interview they had scheduled, but he was adamant that the marketing director could handle the first tier interview for them.

"Bed it is, Ace, let's go," he said, his hand on her back guiding her up the stairs to their bedroom.

"Can I at least have my laptop? I have a million emails to respond to,"

"Sleep first, sweetie, your emails can wait until later, k?"

Rolling her eyes, she kicked her shoes off and undid her skirt, letting it fall to the floor. He shook his head at her, and threw her sweatpants at her. She slipped them off and removed her shirt, shaking her head at him as he offered her t-shirt to her. She walked into their wardrobe and dug through one of his drawers, emerging back into their bedroom in the t-shirt he had worn so often in their first year together. He pulled the covers back on the bed, and cuddled her closely to him, his fingers brushing through her hair slowly.


	16. don't know if i should

Logan sat, leaning against their bed head, watching Rory sleep. He had been working on her laptop for the past few hours; he knew she wouldn't mind and this way he hadn't needed to leave the room to find his. He had needed to restart the computer due to an error message, and as it powered back on Rory's emails opened automatically. His eyes glanced over her inbox, looking for an email from Mitchum that had been sent to both of them, but instead found an email from Christopher. That had been an hour ago. He tried to busy himself with work, but that had failed. Sighing, he ordered pizza and wandered down to the kitchen to get a scotch for himself and a bottle of water for when Rory woke up.

He walked back into the bedroom with 2 pizzas, a scotch, and a bottle of water, somehow managing not to spill anything. He smiled as he noticed her stirring, he was sure it was due to the smell of the pizza.

"Hey Ace, how was your sleep?"

Rory yawned as she woke up, rolling on to her back from her side, "Amazing," she mumbled, "I smell pizza…"

"You definitely can," he walked across the room and placed the pizzas on their bed, "water first though, babe, you've been asleep for hours."

She sat up slowly and took the water from him, having a few small sips as the doctor had recommended. Logan hadn't known whether or not she'd be able to handle pizza, so had ordered one with her usual choice of toppings, and one fairly simple and plain. Rory had a few bites of the plainer one, before needing to run to the bathroom.

"I don't think the babies like pizza," she stated as she sat back on their bed. "Thank you though,"

"Can I get you anything else?" Logan knew that she would say no, but thought it best to ask.

"No, I'm ok for now, but maybe some toast a little later,"

Sitting back against the bed, Logan pulled Rory's laptop onto his lap. He had left it open on her inbox, ready to have a conversation about her father's email.

"So I was doing some work, and without meaning to, came across this email from Christopher," he began. "Were you going to tell me?"

"To be honest, I haven't even read it yet. I saw it there this morning and just didn't feel I could deal with it. When we saw my dad in Stars Hollow it just didn't feel right,"

"I felt it too. It felt a bit forced. Do you want to read it now?"

Rory nodded, she couldn't deny that she was curious about what her dad had to say, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was off - she hadn't even heard from him since they had left the states.

Logan clicked on the email and read it aloud:

"Hey Rory,

Hope you're all settled in London Town!

I'm flying to Paris to bring Gigi back home at the end of September- any chance of seeing you?

Love, Dad"

"Seems innocent enough," Rory said, "although why not just call?"

"Parents, Ace, who knows what goes on in their minds,"

"We won't be like that, will we?"

"God, I hope not!" Logan laughed. "So, what do you think?"

"Depends on these two I guess, I'll be 5 months by then," placing a hand on her stomach, she continued, "If I still feel like this then it might be better if he comes here instead."

"So I take it that you want to see him though?"

Rory paused to think for a moment, "Well, yeah. He said he didn't know anything and I believe him,"

"Fair enough, but let's have him here, keep your stress levels low,"

"Sounds good, babe,"

"You don't think he'll bring Lorelai with him do you?" he asked quietly.

"No…I don't think so. It's more likely that she'll just show up with no invitation and no notice. But I don't think that'll happen, look at how she acted when I took a break from Yale. She just left it,"

"I remember. But she didn't have Shira in her corner when that happened, Ace,"

"That's true," she paused for a few seconds before continuing, "Who do you think contacted who first?"

"Outcome is the same, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but one of them had to make contact first. I suppose it's just curiosity,"

"I heard curiosity killed the cat,"

Rory smiled at him, before jumping up and running back to the bathroom.

"Babe," Logan followed her into the bathroom, "how about you have one of these tablets now?" He waited until she was finished and stood to the side of the doorway, holding a tablet and a bottle of water. "Please, Rory?"

She looked at Logan appreciatively, taking the tablet from him and swallowing it with a small sip of water. "Feel like watching a movie?"

"Always, let's go choose something."

"You know it's funny," Rory began halfway through the movie, "I always thought I'd be busting to tell my mum when I fell pregnant, but I hadn't really thought about it until today,"

Logan paused the movie, wanting to give her his full attention.

Her eyes glanced down, "I do miss her, Logan, but how can I ever forget what she's said? What she's done?"

"I don't know, Rory. I wish I had answers to those questions, I really do."

"How did you work through everything with your dad?"

Logan sighed, "I didn't really, it's like he just calmed down overnight and finally realised that I'm not the disappointment that he was convinced I was,"

"Ok…so how does Honor deal with Shira?"

Logan laughed, "Come on, Ace, you know she doesn't! She only sees her when it's absolutely necessary,"

Rory watched his face as he laughed, smiling at the way he threw his head back like he always did when we found something funny. "Ok, ok, stupid example. But I don't want to be the parent that keeps my children from their grandparents. She did that to me for years, and while I can understand why, I just don't think I can do it,"

"I get it Ace, I really do," taking a deep breath in, Logan continued, "but do you really want to be around her negativity? Do you want our kids, those little beans you're currently growing, to be around someone who can't support the decisions that their parents have made?"

Rory shook her head, tears welling in her eyes, "How am I ever going to forgive her, babe?"

Logan thought about what she had said for a few seconds, "I guess if you really want to, you'll find a way. Although I think she needs to want to be part of our life together. She needs to know that she's caused some serious hurt, too."

Rory kissed him softly on his lips, "I love you, Logan Huntzberger,"

"I love you too, Ace," he whispered.

"Do you love me enough to make me a tea?"

"Always," he whispered into her ear, kissing the side of her neck gently as he wandered down to the kitchen to make her tea and toast.

She woke a few hours later, finding herself in bed with Logan snuggled in next to her. She slowly wriggled her way out of his embrace, her bladder feeling like it was going to burst. She sat up slowly, just as the doctor had directed, hoping to stop the queasiness from taking over. As she stood, she felt overwhelmingly dizzy and a little like she was going to faint. She plopped back down onto the bed, and had a few tiny sips of water. This did nothing but make her feel the need to vomit, so fighting against the dizziness, she moved quickly into the bathroom.

Logan awoke to the sound of the toilet flushing, turning the side lamp on so that Rory could see properly when she came back in the room. He glanced at the clock, _4:30 am._ He waited a few seconds before he called out to her, wanting to make sure she was ok.

"I didn't mean to wake you," she said quietly as she walked back into the room.

"Don't be silly, it's fine. How are you feeling?"

"Don't panic, but I felt really dizzy and a little faint. I had some water but couldn't keep it down."

"Oh, babe," he traced light circles on her back as she sat next to him on their bed, "do you want to try another tablet?"

She nodded, and he passed her one from the side drawer. She had a small sip of water to get it down, and almost immediately ran back into the bathroom. Logan was concerned; he didn't know what to do and he hated not being able to fix it.

As he walked into the bathroom, she looked up at him, "I was hoping to go back to work today," she said matter of factly, "but I don't know how that's going to go."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I've been there for less than 2 months and don't want to make a bad impression,"

Logan rolled his eyes, "Ace, the only place you'll be going is to see Alice, I'm really worried about you."

Rory looked at the concern written all over his face and knew that it was serious. "Ok," she agreed, "you'll come with me, yeah?"

"Of course I will. Now, think you can make it back to bed or shall we camp out on the bathroom floor?"


	17. there's something about the way

"For how long?!" Rory spluttered, her jaw dropping to the floor. She was certain that she had just heard her doctor say she'd need to be in hospital for at least 3 days, but wasn't 100% sure.

"Yes, Rory, 3 days. We need to get you hydrated so that these babies remain healthy," Alice said bluntly.

"But…but I have work! I need to be there!"

Logan shook his head at his fiance, "Ace, come on. This is way more important. Besides, you can work a few hours a day from your laptop if you're feeling up to it. HPG will survive, it's not a problem,"

Alice smiled, nodding along to what Logan was saying. "Rory, this is really important. It will also give me some time to ensure we find a nausea treatment that will help. I'll take you through now, and I'll come back later this afternoon to see how you're going,"

"Ok, Ace, will you be ok here while I go home and get some things? Is there anything specific you would like? Other than your laptop I mean,"

Logan had helped Rory settle into her room, and had spoken to Alice about organising for him to stay overnight as well. While not normal protocol, Alice had managed to arrange for Rory's room to have a queen size bed and a recliner chair, so that they had options for sleeping arrangements. The nurse had hooked Rory up to an IV, in an effort to rehydrate her body.

"Just some clothes, toiletries, phone charger, nothing specific," Rory racked her brain trying to think of something to throw him, but her brain felt a little muddled with the headache she had as a result of the dehydration.

"Alright, sweetie," he kissed her head softly, "you stay here and I'll be back in an hour or so,"

Logan had arrived back at the hospital an hour later, and found Rory sound asleep. He unpacked a few of her things and wandered down to the cafeteria for some lunch. Deciding to head back to her room, he ran into Alice in the hallway.

"Oh, Logan, I was hoping to find you. I think we need to have a chat about reducing Rory's stress,"

Logan frowned, "How serious is what's going on, Alice?"

Ushering him into a vacant room, she continued, "I'll be frank, Logan. Twin pregnancies are difficult enough when you have a solid support system. I know you and Rory don't have that here, and having just started new positions I can only begin to imagine how much pressure she's under. Being pregnant with twins does tend to increase pregnancy symptoms, but Rory is nearing 15 weeks now, they should be easing,"

"Ok, so stress is a contributing factor to her being so sick?"

"Definitely. Now, this isn't something that I would normally bring up, but I think you need to be aware of what's going on. I will come and speak to the two of you together later on, but I'm worried about the level of amniotic fluid that the babies have. If things don't improve, she's going to need to go on bed rest. Is there any way that things could ease off a bit at work?"

"Wow, ok. I don't know that work is causing her stress, but there is definitely plenty of flexibility in her role. I'll make some arrangements and organise for her to work from home a little, only go in for meetings,"

"That'd be great, Logan. But she really needs to work on keeping her stress levels low,"

"Of course, I'll talk to her about it, but she'll listen more if it comes from you,"

—

"So, what are we cutting back on?" Logan looked at Rory quizzically, waiting for a response. Alice had been in to chat with both Rory and Logan, explaining to Rory the seriousness of her symptoms. She had recommended that Rory stay in hospital for 3 nights, giving them the chance to try an alternative anti-nausea treatment, and also allowing Rory and Logan some time to figure out Rory's reduced schedule. Rory had been hesitant, she didn't want Mitchum to think she was backing away from the opportunity, and while she hadn't admitted it to Logan, she was worried that his mother may think she was getting ready to become a "society wife" - something that Rory refused to do.

"Ace? Waiting for a response here," he said with a smirk.

"Well, how about 3 days in the office, and 2 working from home?" She tilted her head slightly to the side, deep in thought, "I'll start with some shorter days until this nausea is under control, but I would like to build back up to at least 4 days in the office until I'm 8 months,"

"I think we can manage that. Let's keep meetings to a minimum too, we don't need to be staying up until 2 am catching up on emails because we've spent our day in meetings,"

"But which ones? They're all important…"

"I say you go to whole department meetings once a month, and 1 head of department meeting each week. Play everything else by ear, but people will need to start making appointments to see you. I know you like letting everyone just wander in, but you need to come first for once,"

"We'll see, some of those meetings I should really be at,"

"Enough work, Ace. We need to talk about eliminating other stress. I think this crap going on with your mum is affecting you more than you're letting on,"

Rory looked down, her fingers twisting and twirling around each other. "I think you're right," she whispered.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"What else is there to say? I can't move on from what she's said and done, but I don't want her to be in our lives unless she's truly happy for us. Both of us,"

"What if you chat with your dad about it, come up with a plan to get things back on track?"

"I thought about it, it might be worth a try. If anything at least he might have some insight into why she's being so petulant. Your mother on the other hand…"

"Dad has it all under control. I don't know what he's done or said, but he's assured me that she won't be anything but pleasant to either of us,"

"Who knew that Mitchum Huntzberger would ever end up on our side?"

Laughing, Logan retrieved his phone from his pocket. He had turned it on mute when he returned to the hospital earlier in the day, not wanting to be disturbed. Looking down on the screen he noted that there were a number of notifications, but the voicemail from Emily Gilmore stood out. He put the phone on speaker so that Rory could hear.

"Logan Huntzberger, it's Emily Gilmore here. Why on Earth haven't you called me to let me know my grand-daughter is so ill. Honestly, Logan, I expected more from you. No matter, Richard has organised me a flight for the day after tomorrow, he will email you the details. Love to you and Rory."

Logan looked at Rory, his eyes displaying a mix of fear and humour, "Oops," he said.

"Yep, oops," Rory said with a giggle.


	18. baby just say yes

"Grandma, I promise, I'm absolutely fine. It's just a bit of nausea. The obstetrician is letting me go home tomorrow; I just need to keep calm." Rory had waited until the morning to call Emily, in an effort to attempt to get her to stay in the US. The call, however, was not going as Rory had hoped. Emily was not backing down, and was adamant that she needed to be there to ensure Rory was properly taken care of.

"No Rory, I think it best that I come there. Who knows what quack you have taking care of you, did you even both to find out where this doctor went to school?"

"Yes, Grandma, she went to Cambridge. But please, I am feeling so much better, the new anti-nausea medication is working wonders. I'm managing to eat small meals and can finally keep water down. They even took my IV out early this morning as my hydration levels are almost perfect. I promise if anything changes I will let you know. Now, Logan and are attending a function in New York in 3 weeks and thought we would come and stay with you and Grandpa for a few days. You'll be able to see just how well I am then,"

Logan looked at Rory with amusement playing in his eyes, he knew she was feeling a bit better and that the new medication was definitely having a positive effect, but he also knew that Rory still wasn't feeling herself.

"I promise, if anything changes at all I will let you know immediately….Yes, I know Logan should've called sooner but it was all a bit of a rush and just a bit of dehydration…No, no, no, I promise we're taking it seriously…Love you too Grandma, bye,"

"So, we're going to New York, Ace? Are you sure that's such a good idea at the moment?"

Rory rolled her eyes at Logan, "Your dad said we have to be there, so we're going to be there. I feel so much better already, I'm sure it will be absolutely fine,"

"Let's just see how we go, please? You and those two beans are the most important thing right now,"

"Promise I'll let you know if anything changes, but if I keep feeling this good then I'll be thrilled," she smiled at him, "Now, your babies are feeling hungry, think you can find them something to eat?"

A few hours later, Alice walked into Rory's room to see how she was going. Rory had been on the new medication for 36 hours and was showing great improvement. She sat on the side of Rory's bed and asked how she felt about going home.

"Today?" Rory said in a shocked tone, "Today would be wonderful!"

"Yes, today. But there are a few conditions. It's Wednesday, I want to see you on Friday afternoon to see how you're going. You need to remain calm and quiet for at least next week, which means no going to work until next Wednesday. If anything changes, Logan is to call my office, and if you have any symptoms of dehydration which aren't resolved within an hour of taking medication, you are to come back here immediately. Think you can manage that?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Alice, are you sure she shouldn't stay another night, just to be certain?" Logan chimed in.

"It's perfectly normal to worry Logan, and before we let you go I'll check on the babies just to be sure. But there's no reason to stay here any longer if you both feel you can manage at home," their doctor said with a reassuring smile.

Logan opened the door to their home, holding it open for Rory to walk through. He watched as she walked in and switched the lights on in their office, his eyes following her as she walked down the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen. Closing the door behind him, he placed their bags at the bottom of the stairs that led up to their bedroom, and proceeded to follow her down to the kitchen. He smiled as he saw her open the fridge, frown, and then close the door.

"Something the matter, baby?" he asked her.

"Well, it's just that the babies feel like something specific, but I can't quite figure out what it is. But whatever it is, it definitely isn't behind that door,"

"Ok….do they feel like pizza? burgers? Indian?" he listed all of her favourite things, but she just shook her head.

"I've got it! Thai! I know there's a menu here somewhere…" she began rummaging through the drawer that held their takeaway menus, before finally finding the one she was looking for.

"So, what'll it be?" Logan smirked as she wrote down 6 different numbers, "Or are we having a tasting session of their entire menu?"

"Well, I just don't know what I feel like, it's a combination of all of these flavours though,"

"Why don't you go and choose a movie and I'll sort this out then?" he said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket to call the restaurant.

Rory kissed him on his cheek and walked into the lounge, _no, they call it a snug here,_ she reminded herself. She had a flick through the dvds that they had placed on the shelving units, finally deciding on The Holiday. She put it into the dvd player, and curled up on the couch, waiting for Logan before pressing play.

"Food will be here in about 25 minutes," Logan announced as he walked into the room. "Space for me under that blanket?"

Rory lifted up the side of the blanket that she had put over herself, inviting him in. Logan handed her a bottle of water, which she gratefully accepted and took a sip of.

"Hey, so I was thinking, do you think we'll have time to see my dad while we're in New York? I know he's coming here 2 weeks later, but I kinda want to try and resolve everything before it gets any worse," she blurted out suddenly.

"Sure Ace, long as you stay calm and don't internalise the stress," he shrugged his shoulders, "I think it would be a good thing, actually."

"I think I'm more confused than stressed, babe. I just don't understand what's going on. Lorelai and Shira working together? Really? But I do want to at least talk to my dad, see if he knows what is actually happening,"

"Let's not get too caught up in that now, sweetie. I thought we could go through the baby list that Margaret gave us,"

"Margaret?" she questioned, pausing before continuing, "Oh! The lady from the baby shop!"

"The very same," Logan responded as he heard the doorbell. "I'll go get dinner and you can start looking at this list," he smiled, handing the list over to her, "and I'll bring my laptop down with me too so you can start doing some research."

"Oh wow, that is exactly what the babies wanted!" Rory exclaimed as she placed her empty bowl on the coffee table.

"Glad to see you have your appetite back," Logan looked at her amused, he couldn't fathom how someone who could keep nothing down 48 hours ago had just managed to eat 2 bowls full of the weirdest combination of foods he had ever seen. Rory had mixed pad thai noodles with 3 different curries and added Thai salad into the mix as well.

Rory stretched out on the couch, her legs over Logan's lap as she leant back into the cushions, her arms stretching above her head. There was something playing on her mind that she wanted to talk to Logan about, but wasn't sure how he'd react.

"Hey, babe?" she began, as she felt her heart start beating a little faster.

"Mmm?"

"So when we let everyone know about the twins a few weeks ago, Honor said something that made me think,"

"Yeah?" he prompted, picking up the remote to pause their movie.

"Just don't react until I get this all out, ok?" Logan nodded his consent before she continued. "Honor said something about us being married, and it made me think how much I really do want to be married to you. I know I said I wanted to wait until next Winter, but then I did some research at the hospital and spoke to one of the midwives there. If my surname is Gilmore when the babies are born, then their surname at the hospital will also be Gilmore. Their birth certificates will say Huntzberger, but their anklets will say "Baby Gilmore". And to be honest, I really want to be able to say that I'm your wife," she managed to get full words out, even full sentences, which shocked her. She was sure that it was going to come out as babble, as so many conversations she had growing up had done.

She watched Logan's face as he listened to her speak, his eyes growing wider and wider before his mouth changed into the biggest grin she had ever seen.

"Ace, is that your roundabout way of asking me if I'll marry you?"

"I do believe you have already asked that question, and I'm sure my response was yes. But yeah, I suppose it is," she smiled shyly at him, "but it totally depends on what your response is,"

Logan smiled at her, "How would we do it? Would it be just us and a few witnesses? How would we deal with everyone's responses?"

"I hadn't thought it all through babe, it was just something that I was thinking about. But I suppose we could do it as a surprise wedding? Tell everyone that it's an engagement party and just get married while we're there?"

"I love it!" Logan leant over and kissed her deeply, "Think how horrified everyone will be!"

Rory laughed at Logan's response, "You sound extremely happy about that! But I think it's quite possibly the only way to do this our way,"

Logan sat up, picking his laptop up to make a list. "If we're really going to do this we are going to need to make some serious lists,"

"You always know exactly what to say to get me in the mood, Mr Huntzberger," Rory swung her legs off of Logan and took the laptop off of him. "Right, venue? List? Theme?"


	19. your eyes whispered

Rory lay in bed, smiling as she noticed Logan's hand was still resting on her belly. emEven in his sleep he's desperate to feel them kick/em she thought to herself. Her eyes glanced over at the clock on her bedside table, noting that it was nearing 5 am. She squished her eyes shut, hoping to get at least another hour or so sleep, but after 10 minutes of laying there, realised it was pointless. She reached over and picked her phone up, noticing a few alerts that had popped up overnight. Opening her pregnancy app, she gasped as she realised that she was now 19 weeks pregnant, and the babies as big as artichokes.

"Artichokes, Ace?" Logan said softly, kissing her shoulder.

"Apparently. I can't wait to see them both in a few hours. Are you sure you're happy to find out?"

"Of course, babe. Are you sure?"

She rolled over so that she was facing him, and kissed him deeply, "I'm sure," she whispered against his lips. Breaking the kiss, she showed him the message that she had received overnight from Rosemary, letting them know that the final arrangements had been made for their engagement event.

"Rory, are you sure you're going to be ok to travel? I know you've been feeling better but you're not 100%, and I just don't want to jeopardise anything," Logan ran his hand down her side, and brought it to rest on her belly again. "By the way, totally not fair that you get to feel them wriggle around and I don't," he pouted.

"You'll be able to feel them in a few weeks, you can have your hand surgically attached if that will make you feel better," she kissed him on the tip of his nose. "And I'm sure about going to New York. I have Alice's number, and she's given me the contact details of a colleague of hers in the city. Besides, the trip is going to be minimal stress. Rosemary is taking care of the final party details, all we really need to do at this point is show up and give everyone the biggest surprise of their lives."

Logan smiled, but his eyes gave away his concern, "All that sounds great and very well planned, but how about your mum? What's going to happen there?"

Rory sighed, "I don't know, sweetie. When I spoke to dad about the party I explained that I wanted them both there, but not if mum was going to cause a scene. I'm hoping to see him on Wednesday, before the HPG finance meeting. Then hopefully we'll be able to have dinner with both of them on Thursday night, before the party on Saturday night," Rory frowned, "And if they aren't there, they aren't there. Mum isn't one to back down when she believes she's right,"

"Sounds like someone else I know," Logan said with a smile, "But seriously, Ace, I know you miss her. Let's hope she's calmed down and is willing to listen. And you know you don't need to go to that meeting, dad's already made it quite clear that he wants you to keep as calm as possible for their grandchildren,"

"I know, but I'd like to be there. And for reminding me that these babies are going to be related to Shira Huntzberger, I'd like a cup of tea,"

Logan kissed her lips softly, "I can do that,"

20 minutes later, Rory wandered downstairs, wrapping her dressing gown around her tightly. It was only mid-September, but it was definitely getting colder in the mornings. She found Logan in the kitchen, placing the finishing touches on their breakfast. He looked up as he heard her walk in, smiling at her as she found her tea and had a sip.

"I thought we could eat outside this morning? I know it's a bit chilly but there's a patch of sun in the garden,"

"Sounds good, baby. Can I help with anything?"

"Nope, you just take the teas out and make yourself comfortable. I'll be out in 1 minute,"

Rory walked out into their garden and sat at the small table they had found for just this reason. It was light enough that they could move it around quite easily, which Logan had already done.

She watched Logan walk out, carrying 2 plates and a pot of tea. He placed the plates on the table and topped her tea up.

"Blueberry pancakes? You're my hero!"

—

"Alright, Rory, Logan, do you want to know the gender of these gorgeous babies?" The monographer asked with a smile. The ultrasound had been perfect; both babies were being very cooperative with showing their faces and had given them all a few giggles with their acrobatic movements.

"Yes, please," Rory nodded, smiling up at Logan who was also nodding vigorously.

"Well, I am delighted to tell you that you are expecting 2 very healthy, very excitable, girls!"

"Girls!?" Logan had a huge grin on his face, but was in absolute shock, "Ace, we're going to have daughters! Daughters! Can you believe it?"

Rory laughed at his reaction, tears streaming down her face. "Girls, Logan, girls!" She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him gently.

The monographer smiled at them, leaving them alone for a few moments. She returned a minute later to finalise the ultrasound, printing off a variety of different images for the couple that, in her experience, were two of the most excited parents to be that she had ever met.

—

Sitting on the plane, Logan held an image of their babies in his hand. The sonographer had given them 20 different images, and Logan had selected his favourite.

Rory returned from the bathroom, peeking over his shoulder to see what he was looking at, "That one is pretty cute, you can see their different personalities already," she smiled as she looked at the picture which showed one twin with her arms up above her head, and the other twin with one hand tucked under her chin and the other thumb in her mouth.

"Rory," Logan whispered, "We're going to have twin daughters!"

"It's going to be great," she whispered back to him, "You're going to be the best dad in the world,"

"I've got no hope, I'll never be able to say no to them, look at their mother,"

"You'll be brilliant, Logan. I know you will be. We're going to do this together, and it's going to be the most magical adventure ever," she leant over and kissed him softly. "Trust me,"

Logan smiled at her, "You have so much faith in me. Thank you,"

Rory kissed him once more, before leaning down and pulling out a folder from her bag. "Now that we know they're girls, I think we should use our time on this plane wisely, and start looking at Margaret's list," Rory shuffled through the papers, "And Honor's. Which would you like first?"

Logan laughed a little at Rory's organisation, "I'll take Margaret's, I think it'll be more practical. Besides, I can tell you've already been through it," he pointed to her notes in the margins and her excessive highlighting.

"Well, yes, but now that we know that they're girls we can be a whole lot more specific!"

Logan looked at his fiancé in amazement, before taking the list, pen, and highlighter from her.

Rory smiled as she watched Logan going through the papers that she had handed him, before turning her attention to the information that Honor had sent through. She hadn't looked at it yet, expecting it to be filled with designer brands and impractical recommendations. While there were definitely some things that Rory immediately crossed out, she had to admit that she was shocked. Honor's list was incredibly practical, and had lots of little bits of information such as the pros and cons of a baby wrap carrier rather than a more structured baby carrier, and whether a pram with capsule adaptors was better than lay flat bassinet seats. Honor had even gone as far as writing brand recommendations next to her notes, something that Rory found incredibly useful. She found some blank paper and began composing her own list of things she wanted to research, and another list of what brands she wanted to look at for prams.

An hour or so later, Logan looked over at her and noticed that Rory's eyes were closing. He got up and took her notes from her, shaking his head at the number of pages she had written. He put everything back into the folder, placing it in her bag as the flight attendant came past with a blanket and pillow for Rory. He put the pillow on the side of her head, knowing that she would eventually turn and rest on it, and draped the blanket over her. Kissing her head and whispering that he loved her, he sat back down in his seat and watched her sleeping as he felt himself drift off.


	20. you squeeze my hand

Rory paced back and forth in their New York hotel room, Logan watching her from his position on the armchair. He had tried getting her to sit down, but she was too jittery. He could understand why; they were meeting with her father that morning. He looked at his watch, and stood up, buttoning his suit jacket.

"Come on, Ace, time to go,"

Rory looked at him in shock, "Already?"

"Well, it's a bit early, but I thought we could wander around for a bit?" It was unlike Logan to just want to wander around New York, but he was more than a little concerned about Rory internalising her worry and stress. He walked over to her, helping her into her jacket. He placed a hand on her tummy, still hoping to feel something.

"Soon," she whispered, "two more weeks, tops." She leant up and kissed him softly, before turning and picking her handbag up.

"Choose that bag for any reason?" he questioned with a smirk, noticing that she had chosen to bring the Birkin bag he had given her.

"No, I just happen to love the colour right now," she smiled at him, "and I suppose I really love the person who gave it to me,"

Logan gently pushed her against the wall, kissing her deeply. She responded by hooking her arms behind his neck, kissing him back with all her might. His hands wandered down her body, finding the hem of her dress and slowly pulling it up. Rory let her handbag fall to the ground, her hands moving to the front of Logan's body and undoing his jacket, pushing it off his shoulders as he shrugged his arms out of it. She moved her head to the side as his lips wandered down her neck, softly kissing her skin. One of her hands found his belt, unbuckling it.

Logan paused, "Are you sure?" he whispered in her ear.

"Logan," she breathed heavily, 'now," she ran her fingers through his hair as she kissed him deeply.

"Feeling a little calmer now, Ace?" Logan asked with a small smile. He had managed to get his trousers done back up and was shrugging his jacket on.

"Always," she responded, "Although who knew it would be so much better at 19 weeks pregnant,"

"Better?" his eyes shot up to meet hers, "Seriously?"

She thought for a moment as she straightened her clothes and slipped her jacket back on, "Ok, better wasn't the right word…more intense?"

He wandered back over to her, passing her handbag to her, "Intense enough to need a repeat later on?"

"Only if you're lucky," she responded, kissing his cheek softly. "Come on, we're going to be late,"

They arrived at the cafe where they were meeting Christopher, and found him already sitting at a table, a coffee in front of him. He stood up as he saw them arrive, greeting Rory with a kiss on her cheek and Logan with a handshake.

"Rory, you look beautiful as always, how are you feeling?"

"Good thanks, so much better than I was a few weeks ago," she smiled at the waitress that approached their table, ordering a sparkling water for herself and a coffee for Logan.

"Your grandmother mentioned that you hadn't been well, I'm glad to see you're feeling better though,"

"Me too," Logan stated, squeezing Rory's hand.

"About that…we thought you'd like to see a picture," she smiled as she handed him a copy of the ultrasound picture that Logan had been looking at on the plane.

Christopher spent a few moments looking at the image before he spoke, "Something you want to tell me…?"

"There is! We're having twins!" Rory said, smiling.

"Wow! Twins! That's incredible! You must be so excited,"

"We are," Logan responded, "We were more focused on getting Rory feeling better for the first 4 months, but the last few weeks have been great,"

"Honestly, guys, congratulations," he beamed at them, "It's wonderful news,"

"Thanks, Chris. That means a lot,"

Rory hesitated a moment before asking how her mum was.

Chris looked slightly uncomfortable, "She's alright, kid."

Rory rolled her eyes, "Alright? That's all I get? Does she know you're here with us?"

"Rory, it's complicated," he began, "She's my wife…"

"And I'm your daughter. And her daughter. Does she know you're seeing me?"

"No," his eyes looked down as he spoke, "Rory, I know that she misses you, but you know what she's like. She admitted it to me once, but she's gone silent about it since,"

"So, dinner…?" Rory questioned.

"Oh, she's happy to have dinner. As I said, I know she misses you. I know she's upset about not having been involved with your pregnancy,"

"How did she find out?" Logan asked softly.

Chris looked at Logan, "Your mother, actually,"

"Figures," Logan mumbled.

"Ok, well, dinner would be great. Tomorrow night still good for you?"

"Tomorrow night's great. We'll just see how it goes and then play Saturday night by ear. Sound good?"

"Sounds great dad, thank you,"

Logan held Rory's hand as they walked out of the New York HPG offices. Squeezing her hand, he asked how she was feeling about seeing her mum.

Rory smiled at him, "Good. I don't know what's going to happen, but I think it'll be ok,"

He leant down and kissed her, "Just remember, if you want out you just need to let me know,"

"And what would the lovely Rory possibly want out of?"

Rory laughed as she heard Finn's voice, while Logan clapped him on the back.

"How are you, mate?" Logan asked, "And more importantly, what are you doing here?"

"I had a feeling that the dark lord would summons you to his office at some point,"

"So you've just been loitering around here, waiting for us to emerge?" Rory asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh no, darling, Rosie told me you'd be here," Finn looked Rory over, "My gosh, are you sure there are two in there? You look positively gorgeous!"

"I'm sure there's two, and no, you can't feel them kicking yet, much to Logan's disgust,"

"Well, that's a disappointment, but no matter. I'm here to whisk the two of you away to finalise this party,"

"Finn, Rory needs to have a rest, can we do this tomorrow?"

"Must be today, there's a car waiting and I promise she can sit down the whole time we're there. Let's go," he said, ushering them both into the waiting car.

They drove for around half an hour, catching up on the little bits and pieces of their lives that they hadn't shared over Skype. Rory was impressed that Rosemary hadn't told Finn about the surprise at their party, she knew that Logan wanted to be the one to let Finn know. Eventually, they arrived at their destination, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, in Pocantico Hills. Rosemary was already there, and greeted them as they stepped out of the car. She gave Rory a hug, immediately asking how she was feeling and commenting on how beautiful she looked. Logan smiled, pleased that it wasn't just him who noticed how much pregnancy suited Rory.

The four of them walked in, Rory smiling at how perfect the setting was.

"What do you think, babe?" she asked Logan, "Are you sure you like it?"

"It's perfect, Ace, it really is,"

Rosemary talked them through the setup that had been organised, and showed them the plans that had been made for fairy lights to be placed around the garden. Finn looked around, before commenting that it would be a nice venue for a wedding.

"You're spot on, mate, that's what we're doing," Logan said, matter-of-factly.

"You're…what?"

"Getting married. Saturday night,"

"And you're only just telling me now? Honestly, Logan, I thought we were friends," Finn shook his head dramatically.

"I needed to tell you in person, so that I could ask you if you'd be my best man."

"I'd be delighted!"

Rory and Rosemary smiled at one another, before delving into a conversation about what Rory was planning on wearing.


	21. our secret moments

Rory arrived back at their hotel around 3 pm, she'd had lunch with Paris, Rosemary, and Stephanie, before going on a very determined shopping trip with Rosemary. She had wanted nothing more than to tell Paris about their surprise wedding in 3 night's time, but she knew that Paris would tell Doyle, and once Doyle knew, everyone would know.

After their afternoon the day prior, Rosemary had insisted that Rory go on a shopping mission to find the perfect dress for her to marry Logan in. While Rory had found a few options that she felt comfortable in, Rosemary had insisted that she find something amazing, which is exactly what they had done.

Walking into their hotel room, she was surprised to find Logan laying on the bed. She put her handbag down and wandered over to him, surprised to find him asleep. Kicking her shoes off, she curled up next to him, smiling to herself as his arm naturally moved across her middle, his hand resting lightly on her belly.

It was an hour or so later when he stirred, kissing her softly on her forehead, "Hey beautiful, I didn't hear you come back,"

She mumbled something incoherent before blinking her eyes open a few times, "I crept in like a mouse, I wouldn't dare wake a sleeping Huntzberger,"

Logan laughed a little, "Neither would I. How was lunch?"

Rory rolled over so that she was facing him, "It was good, nice to finally see Paris and Steph. I feel like I haven't seen them in forever!"

"Ah yes, how is the formidable Ms Gellar?"

"She's good, working her butt off at med school. Asked more questions than my grandma about Alice though,"

"I wouldn't expect any less. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we need to leave for dinner in an hour,"

Rory sighed, she'd somehow managed to put tonight's dinner at the back of her mind all day. But all of a sudden, she felt a wave of anxiety crash over her.

"You know, we don't have to go, Ace. If you're not feeling up to it, it's absolutely fine," Logan looked at her with concern, "I mean it, babe. You just say the word and we can get room service and spend the night in bed,"

Rory smiled at him, touched by the level of his concern, "No, it's alright. I am feeling nervous, but I need to at least try to fix things with my mum,"

Logan kissed her softly as she sat up, "I know. But the second you feel overwhelmed you just let me know,"

"I promise. But the same goes for you. If she starts yelling and I freeze, you might need to make that decision. Your babies too, remember,"

"Deal. Now up, shower, get dressed,"

Rory poked her tongue out at him as she got up and walked into the bathroom to get ready for the dinner ahead of them.

—

Logan had organised for Frank to drive them out to Hartford for dinner. He had made a booking for a cosy Italian restaurant that they had frequented often before they moved, while he had originally chosen it because it was one of Rory's favourites, the restaurant also had small, private-ish spaces where they could all talk with minimal interruptions. As they pulled up outside the restaurant, Logan helped Rory out of the car, noting that she had chosen to wear rather high heels and a fitted red dress that hugged her bump perfectly. He tried to recall why he hadn't noticed before they left, but realised that Rory had left her coat in the car. Frank had realised too, as he emerged from the car to pass the coat to Rory.

"Choose this outfit for any particular reason, Ace?" Logan smirked at her.

"This?" she smiled at him, "Just something I threw on,"

"I don't believe you for a second. It bears a very similar resemblance to your lucky outfit,"

"Yes, well, I needed to feel powerful tonight,"

"Ace, you are always powerful," he kissed her neck gently as his hand found the small of her back, guiding her towards the restaurant.

They settled at their table, aware that they had arrived right on time but Chris and Lorelai were yet to make an appearance. Logan ordered a scotch and Rory a sparkling water, and they settled into a very light conversation to pass the time. Every moment that passed made Rory more and more anxious, which Logan was acutely aware of, and so made sure they were constantly touching.

Ten minutes had passed by when Logan spotted Chris out of the corner of his eye. He stood up and shook his hand, his eyes flitting back to the entrance of the restaurant, spotting Lorelai pacing the footpath.

"Everything alright?" he asked Chris, gesturing with his eyes to the entrance.

"Oh yeah, Lorelai is just psyching herself up to come in,"

"You're kidding?"

"No, he's not. This is what she does. Haven't I ever told you about how long we used to stand out the front of my grandparents' place? She'd always have a reason not to ring the doorbell. I think the record was about 10 minutes, then grandma came to the door," Rory caught herself rambling and took a breath, "Sorry," she added, "nerves,"

Chris kissed his daughter on her cheek, before going back to the entrance to bring Lorelai in. Lorelai said hello to both Rory and Logan, but avoided eye contact with both of them.

Subconsciously, Logan wriggled his chair closer to Rory, just in case she needed any support. A waiter came over and took Chris and Lorelai's drink order, after which Logan noticed Lorelai didn't take her eyes off of her daughter.

"How have you been, Lorelai?" he had decided to take the high road and attempt to make the evening as civil as possible.

"Fine, Logan. Busy, but not as busy as you two have been apparently,"

"Mum," Rory began, before she was interrupted.

"No Rory, you turn up here after months of nothing and expect me to just 'chat'? That's not how this works!"

"Lor, calm down. They're here, they're making an effort. Now, how about you do the same?" Chris reasoned with her. "Now Rory, you organised this dinner, how about you start?"

"I've missed you," Rory whispered. "I miss just talking to you. I don't miss feeling controlled or like every decision I made was being judged in some way. But I do miss you,"

Logan squeezed her hand under the table in an effort to express to her how proud he was for taking this step.

Lorelai looked at Rory, her eyes finally meeting her daughter's. "I've missed you too, Rory. But being judged for poor decisions is a fact of life,"

"Not when it's your mother. Mother's are supposed to support their children, and offer guidance. Not yell at them in public and then ignore them for months on end,"

Lorelai looked at Chris, who gave her a small smile. "Look, Rory, I'm sorry. I did judge your decisions, but I couldn't support them,"

"And now?" Rory questioned cautiously.

"Well, while I still don't agree with decisions you've made, I can see that you're happy. Both of you are," she said, her eyes moving to Logan.

"We are," Logan confirmed, "very happy. I know Rory would be happier if you were in our lives though,"

Lorelai sighed. "I'll just get this over and done with then. I'm sorry. I know I've caused you both a lot of stress and anger, and I am truly sorry. I can't take back what's happened over the last 6 months, but I can tell you that I'm truly sorry. I'd like to make things right again,"

Rory looked at Logan, her eyes asking what he thought. He nodded ever so slightly, before Rory looked at her mother, smiling. "Thank you. That means a lot. I've missed you,"

"Me too, kid. Now, I think I need some love over here," Lorelai said as she stood up and walked around to the other side of the table.

Rory stood up, and Lorelai froze. Her eyes travelled down Rory's body, and then back up, pausing on her midsection.

Rory smiled, "Congratulations! You're going to be a grandma!"

Lorelai grinned at her, "Seriously? You kept this from me?"

Rory shrugged, "You weren't talking to me. But moving on," she there her arms around her mother and squeezed her tight.

Their reunion over, Chris moved so that Rory and Lorelai could sit next to one another, giving them the chance to catch up. He leant over to Logan, mumbling something that neither his wife nor daughter could hear. Logan laughed, nodding his head.

Their food arrived, but before they ate Logan cleared his throat, "Lorelai," he began, "there's something else we need to tell you,"

Rory looked at him, her eyes smiling as she knew what was coming, and Logan continued, "We'd like you to meet your granddaughters," he smiled at her, passing a copy of an ultrasound image across the table.

Rory could tell by the look on her mother's face that she hadn't heard the plural that Logan had used. She watched her face as she took in the image, noticing the shock and then love that registered.

"Two Gilmore girls?! Oh my god, Rory, Logan, this is incredible," she squealed, jumping up from her chair and covering Rory's stomach with her hands. She kissed Rory's cheek, and then moved on to Logan, giving him a one-armed hug in congratulations.

—

As they drove back to the hotel, Logan noticed that Rory looked more relaxed than she had in months. He knew that fixing things with Lorelai would have this effect, and he was thrilled that it had finally happened.

Rory smiled at him, noticing how calm Logan looked leaning back in the seat. Her hand crept up his thigh, before continuing up his chest. She gently guided his face towards her, kissing him deeply.

"Here Ace? Really?"

"Well, it'd be a first…" she whispered back.

"Frank," Logan called to his driver, "can you pop the screen up please?"

"Certainly, Mr Huntzberger," Frank replied, chuckling to himself.

Rory smiled, and moved to straddle Logan, her dress riding further up her thighs.

"This dress is incredible. Seriously, Rory, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on,"

Rory smiled, leaning in to kiss him again as she began to unbutton his shirt.


	22. bought thisdress soyou could take it off

Logan rolled over in bed, his eyes slowly opening. _Today's the day,_ he thought to himself, _we're going to become a family_. Logan looked in admiration at Rory who was fast asleep beside him, having forgone the tradition of not seeing one another before the ceremony. Logan had argued that it was a tradition for a reason, however, she had managed to convince him that it was perfectly acceptable to see one another on the day of their wedding, given that it was not a traditional one. He smiled at her, glad that she had finally been able to get some proper sleep over the last few nights.

As excited as he was, however, his mind was also occupied by the conversation he had had with his father the night before. While the HPG event had been to announce growth in the European region and throughout the UK, Mitchum had requested a side-meeting with Logan to discuss the situation with Shira. According to Mitchum, Shira was not in attendance at the event, but she would be attending Rory and Logan's engagement party the following evening. Mitchum promised Logan that Shira wouldn't cause any drama at their party, and would do his best to keep her and Lorelai apart. Logan had spent most of the night awake; he had been unable to stop thinking about all of the drama that Lorelai and Shira had caused him and Rory over the past six months. He was glad that Rory and Lorelai were speaking again, but he couldn't stop himself from thinking that it wasn't going to last for very long. He shook his head in an attempt to remove the thoughts from his mind, he refused to bring any of this up with Rory today. Leaning over, he gently whispered good morning to her belly, kissing it lightly. He quietly got out of bed, and ordered a selection of breakfast foods to be delivered to their room.

Rory woke to a quiet knock on their hotel door, followed by the smell of pancakes and warm pastries wafting in. She waited until the door had closed again before sitting up, the covers pooling beneath her pregnant belly and revealing her naked body. Logan leant against the doorway to the bedroom of their suite, his arms folded across his chest as he watched Rory sit up. Her eyes met his, and his smirk was met with a small smile.

"Ace…" he said softly.

"Hmm?" she responded, raising an eyebrow.

He slowly walked over to her, pulling his t-shirt off over his head and pushing his sweatpants down before losing himself in his fiance.

—

"Where have you been?" Rosemary exclaimed, "We expected you two hours ago!" She had been pacing back and forth at the entrance of Blue Hill, the venue of the wedding.

"We were…delayed," Rory responded, giggling as Logan kissed the side of her neck.

"I think we all know why," Finn said loudly, greeting his friends.

They walked in through the entrance, watching as a number of people moved around the large open space, hanging lights and lanterns. Rory looked around, amazed at how Rosemary had been able to pull together something so magical, that was almost identical to what she and Logan had imagined.

"All down to a brilliant event manager, trust me," Rosemary said. She, too, was surprised at how well everything had come together, and was more than happy to help her friends.

As they walked through to the farmhouse which hosted the restaurant, Finn couldn't help but ask how they were planning to keep the wedding a secret from people when they arrived.

Logan smiled, "Well, Rory and I are going to be out here with everyone as they arrive. Once everyone is here and settled, we'll go inside and get changed, while you announce that we are going to be married tonight."

"Me? You want me to announce that? Are you sure?"

"Of course, Finn, we'd be thrilled," Rory beamed at Finn.

—

Rory stood in a room upstairs, peering out through the window. Below, she could see the 50 or so guests enjoying their cocktails. She quickly found Logan in the crowd, and watched as he signalled to Finn that it was time to make the announcement. Rory's eyes followed Logan as he put his empty scotch glass down on a nearby table and walked inside. Her eyes flitted back to Finn as she took in the scene below her, Finn announcing to their gathered guests that they would be witnessing a wedding that evening. Rory watched the reactions of their guests, finding her grandparents who wear beaming, her grandmother's hands covering her face before kissing her grandfather. She smiled to herself at Honor's reaction, she was clapping loudly, and looked around, catching Rory's eye in the window and blowing her a kiss. She saw Mitchum with a huge grin on his face, while Shira stood next to him with her lips pursed. Her father, who was now shaking hands with Richard, and then her mother, who looked shocked, angry, and then as though she had plastered a smile on her face. Rory looked over her shoulder as Rosemary walked in, asking if she was ready.

"Almost," Rory responded, "Just my shoes left, but I need a little help with them,"

Rosemary bent down and helped Rory into her blue heels. While their wedding was anything but traditional, Rory had wanted to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. She had borrowed a diamond pendant necklace from Rosemary, had purchased a new wedding dress, was wearing a diamond bracelet that her great-grandmother had left her, and had chosen bright blue heels.

"Ready," she smiled at Rosemary, who passed her a small bunch of brightly coloured wildflowers.

"God Logan is one lucky man! Seriously, Rory, you may be 5 months pregnant, but you look hot!" Rosemary exclaimed has she looked Rory over, "Let's get going!"

—

"Hello, darling," Richard greeted his granddaughter at the bottom of the stairs. "Logan asked me to meet you here. I have to say, you are one beautiful bride,"

Rory blushed at her grandfather's compliment, "Well, grandpa, I know it's incredibly short notice, but do you think you could walk me out? There's no aisle per se, but I would be honoured to have you escort me out."

A tear fell down Richard's cheek, "I would love nothing more,"

Rory nodded at Rosemary, who walked out into the crowd as the first notes of Moon River began playing. Rory placed her hand into the crook of Richard's arm as they walked out. Their guests made a path for them to walk through, and while Rory knew she should look around at the beautiful tent that had been constructed out of fairy lights and white lanterns, she couldn't take her eyes off of Logan. Her grandfather kissed her hand as they arrived, and Logan shook Richard's hand before kissing Rory's cheek softly.

Logan hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her, either. He had taken in every millisecond that she had been walking to him, committing to memory every single detail. Her dress was fitted, showing off her beautiful bump, and flaring out ever so slightly below her knees. It was off the shoulder, with intricate lace sleeves that went to her elbows. The neckline made a deep v, showing off her décolletage without being too risqué.

"You are stunning, Ace. I can't wait 'til later," he whispered in her ear.

Rory blushed as the celebrant began speaking.

The ceremony was short, just as they had planned. Before they knew it, the celebrant was asking them to read their vows. Rory had insisted that they write their own, and wanting to be unique, demanded that she go first.

"Logan, from the moment I met you I was enraptured. You bring out a passion in me that I never knew I had. I promise to hold our love as everlasting - not just for an hour, a day, a month, or a year. To you, I promise to love and share in everything. I have to catch my breath to believe that all of this is real, that I am marrying my best friend, the love of my life. I promise to cherish you, as I know that you will love and cherish not only me, but also our daughters," Rory paused as she squeezed Logan's hand, "Together you and I will make one, one world, one universe of love, ever-growing, ever-expanding - perpetually and inexorably. In the words of Emily Bronte, whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same. I love you," Rory leant across and kissed Logan softly on his lips, a short kiss that conveyed all of the emotion she was feeling.

Logan waited a few moments, needing time to focus before he began his vows, "Rory, when you walked into my life, love finally walked in. It was the most magical moment, that I will treasure forever. Richard Bach has said, 'A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we're pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we're safe in our own paradise.' You are my soulmate, you are the person who loves me for me, you reveal the best part of me. I love you and I love our paradise. I vow to carry you and to be carried by you, to journey with you and to love each minute because of our travels together. We will live a life of constant adventure together - you, our daughters, and me. You jump, I jump, Jack,"

Logan wiped Rory's eyes, his fingers running through her hair and pulling her closer. They followed the celebrant's directions and exchanged rings, but they were in their own little world. The celebrant announced them married, and Logan kissed Rory with a furious passion, dipping her slightly. Forgetting where they were, he leant down and kissed her bump twice, leaving his hand placed on it as she pulled him up to kiss his lips.

He smiled at the kiss, before he broke into an even bigger grin, "Did you feel that, Ace? Did you feel that?" He had finally got his wish of feeling the babies move, even if it was just a tiny flutter.

"I did, sweetie, I did. I think our baby girls are sharing in our excitement,"

Rory and Logan turned to face their guests, and were congratulated by Richard and Emily, and then Rosemary and Finn. Logan noticed Lorelai and Chris towards the back of the crowd, having what looked like a heated conversation under their breaths. He was quickly distracted by his own father, who approached them with the happiest face Logan had ever seen him have, and Honor who hit his arm before embracing him in congratulations.

After dinner, there were numerous speeches, Finn declaring his love for both Rory and Logan, and a fairly traditional father of the bride speech from Christopher. However, Honor's speech left not one dry eye.

"Logan, when you were born, I was beyond angry. All I wanted was a little sister, that was the only thing I can ever remember asking from Santa, it was every birthday wish, and every prayer. But then I got stuck with a little brother. I got over the anger when I realised that a baby was still a baby, and I loved you. That was until you turned 3 and became obsessed with cars, dinosaurs, and trucks, basically everything every little boy loves. And then came the mud and the running. Again I was angry. But we both grew up a little, and bonded over the little things, tv shows, books, burgers. And I finally realised that having a baby brother was brilliant. And it still is. I love you more than words can say, and am so glad that you have found someone to share your life with. Rory, welcome to our crazy Huntzberger family, we are so lucky to have you and absolutely thrilled that you and Logan found one another. I finally have the baby sister that I so desperately wanted, and also 2 beautiful nieces to join in our crazy. I love you both. To Rory and Logan!"

Logan and Rory kissed, before they stood up together to thank their guests for coming. They officially announced that they were having twin daughters, even though there had been quite a few mentions of it throughout the night. Their guests clapped, calling out their congratulations to the couple.

As Rory returned to their table after spending the past hour dancing with Rosemary and Steph, she found Logan sitting with Finn and Colin, each with a scotch in their hand.

"Shall we go, Mrs Huntzberger?" Logan asked, a spark in his eye.

"I believe so, Mr Huntzberger," Rory responded, "Just need to find my shoes,"

She spotted them a few metres away, but Finn saw them first and went to get them for her.

Lorelai approached their table, it was the first time they had seen her all night.

"Well, congratulations!" she said, her tone conveying honesty but also with a hint of sarcasm, in a way only Lorelai could do.

"Thanks, Lorelai," Logan offered, giving his mother-in-law a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Mum, I'm so glad you were able to come,"

"Of course," Lorelai mumbled, "Whose idea was it to get married this way? Yours, Logan?"

"Actually, it was mine, mum," Rory responded. "I thought it would be romantic, unique, very us,"

"Yes, definitely. Anyway, your father and I are leaving. Congratulations again," And with that, she walked away.

—

An hour later, Rory and Logan arrived back at their hotel in Manhattan, having chatted about the evening on the car ride there. They took the elevator up to their room, Logan removing his jacket and tie as they walked in. Rory stood in the middle of the suite, her eyes watching Logan as he laid his jacket on the back of a chair, and slowly walked towards her, his eyes conveying the lust and need he felt in that moment.


	23. so good to me

"Ping!" went Rory's MacBook, alerting her to a new message. Her eyes darted up from the documents that her assistant had handed to her that morning and to the screen, smiling to herself as she saw it was from Logan. She clicked it open, "Lunch? xx" it read. She peered through the glass in her office door which was closed for once, and looked across and through Logan's door, noticing that he was on the phone. She frowned slightly as she noticed he was spinning his glasses around by the arm, something she knew he did when he was frustrated. She sent a message back to him telling her to come in once he was done on his call, and went back to her reading.

Logan stood outside the door, watching Rory reading and manically taking notes. He knocked softly before opening the door and walking over to her and kissing her softly.

"How's your Monday going, Ace?"

She rolled her eyes, "This paper up in Manchester, the editor is horrible. Seriously, how on Earth did he get the job?"

Logan sat down opposite Rory and picked up the document that she had been reading. Putting his glasses on, he quickly skimmed it, raising an eyebrow as he took it in.

"Oh, and don't forget this," she remarked, passing him a copy of yesterdays publication.

Logan chuckled as he took in Rory's highlighting on the front page, counting over 15 major spelling and grammar issues.

"Babe, I think the spelling errors are the least of our problems at the moment. Pretty sure the harassment complaints are what we need to focus on first of all. I'm curious though, why has this landed on your desk and not on mine? And why isn't HR just dealing with it?"

Rory smirked, "There's a copy on your desk too, but I think you would struggle to find it given the state of your desk. Ben from HR wants to meet this afternoon to discuss an action plan, I'm suggesting that we advertise for a new editor,"

"Sounds great, Ace," he looked over to his office, "And you're right. My desk looks like a bomb site, I'll fix that later,"

"Enough work. Your daughters are hungry and so is their mummy. Lunch, please?"

—

They found themselves in a small cafe a few blocks away from the office. They had passed a dozen or so other places on their way here, but had found that if they wanted to have a quiet lunch with minimal interruptions, they needed to go a little further.

"Are you sure you aren't taking on too much right now, Ace?" Logan asked gently. He knew that it was going to be a tough conversation to have, but he was worried about her. They had both been working 5 days a week in the office since they returned to London 2 weeks ago, and many of those days had been quite long.

Rory stretched her legs out under the table, one of her hands absentmindedly drawing small circles on her belly, one of the twins responding by kicking her gently. "It has been a bit full on the last few weeks. Guess I'm just worried about not being visible if I work from home. But I've been feeling pretty good,"

"Please don't worry about that, babe. You know it's absolutely fine. You and the girls are the most important thing in the world. You need to put the 3 of you first,"

"Hey, feel this," she said quickly, taking both of his hands and placing them on opposite sides of her expanding belly.

Logan sat for a few moments, smiling down at her hands placed over his. "Is that…I mean, are they both kicking…?"

"Yep," Rory smiled at him before leaning over and kissing him.

They ate their lunch together, chatting about the shopping trip they had planned for that weekend where they were hoping to purchase the furniture for the nursery.

Deciding it was time to head back to the office, Rory stood up as Logan helped her into her coat. She took a step forward, but immediately sat back down.

"Ace, Ace, what's wrong?" Logan crouched down next to her, concern etched on his face.

"I'm ok, really. Just a bit of a cramp," she frowned a little as she rubbed the side of her belly gently.

"Rory, we're going to the hospital. I'll call Alice on the way,"

"I'll be fine, honestly, it's fine,"

"No, Rory, we're going. Just to be safe," He put one arm around her back and held her other hand, guiding her out to the car waiting outside.

—

"Bed rest?" Rory questioned, clearly unimpressed.

"Yes, Rory. You're only 24 weeks. We need these babies to stay inside as long as possible. I'd like to see you get to at least 37 weeks. So, it's bed rest for you," Alice advised.

Logan nodded along to the doctor's advice, and as much as he was worried about the health of their unborn daughters, he was glad that Alice was taking this seriously.

"But I can't, I have things to do!" Rory exclaimed.

"Come on, Ace. We agreed, the babies health and your health must come first,"

"Logan's right, Rory. Besides, I'm not saying do nothing! But you need to relax. You can still get things ready for the babies and work, you just need to do it from bed or the couch," Alice explained calmly.

"Alright, I can do that. How long are we looking at though? A few weeks?"

"Let's reassess in 6 weeks. You'll be 30 weeks then. But I want to see you next week, actually, we'll probably need to book weekly visits for the remainder of this pregnancy,"

"But the babies are ok, aren't they?" Rory asked quietly, tears beginning to well in her eyes as she realised this was quite serious.

"Oh Rory, they are. Twin A seems to want to make her grand entrance early, but we are all going to do our best to make sure that does not happen. Logan, that means making sure everything is as calm as possible at home; Rory for you it means being relaxed and having those feet up all the time,"

"Are you sure?" she asked again.

"As sure as I can be, darling," Alice said softly.

"Thank you," Rory smiled at her doctor, "Same time next week?"

—

"Are you sure you'll be alright, Ace?" Logan asked as he sat next to her on their bed. They had made it home from the hospital and Logan had set Rory up in bed with everything that she could possibly need for a week.

"Logan, you're only going to the supermarket," she said through a yawn, "You'll be back here in under an hour. And while you're gone I plan on having a lovely nap,"

Logan smiled at her and kissed the top of her head, "I'll come in quietly so that I don't wake you. Love you,"

"I love you more, babe," she whispered back.

—

When Logan returned home from the supermarket, we busied himself in the kitchen, making lasagne for dinner. He had bought enough food to last them at least a week, and had made sure Rory's favourite snacks were well stocked in their house.

While the sauce was simmering he decided to call his assistant and update her on what was going on. She answered the phone quickly, and Logan gave her a brief rundown of what was going on. He made it clear that he would be working from home for the rest of the week, and Rory would only be doing a bit here and there.

"Ben from HR came up earlier, Mr Huntzberger. He said he had a meeting with yourself and Mrs Huntzberger?"

"Shit. Sorry, Nancy. I'll give him a call, I'm assuming it's about the Manchester paper?"

"He didn't say. But I believe so,"

"Thanks for letting me know. Go home, you work too hard!"

"Not a problem, Mr Huntzberger. I'll be in from 7.30 tomorrow, so if there's anything you need please let me know,"

"Thanks, Nancy. Goodnight," Logan said, ending the call. He sighed as he thought about what was going on with the paper in Manchester, and found Ben's number in his phone.

"Hi, Logan," Ben answered the call with an air of familiarity, he and Logan had attended school together at one point.

"How are you?" Logan asked, "I'm sorry that Rory and I missed the meeting earlier,"

"No matter. Everything ok?" Ben inquired.

"Yes and no. She's on bed rest for at least 6 weeks. Who knew babies could be so much trouble before they're even born?" The two joked back and forth for a bit, it had been a few weeks since they'd been able to catch up properly.

"So, this editor in Manchester, what's the plan?" Logan asked.

"Well, it was really up to you and Rory. But I'll give you the highlights reel, mate. There are 4 complaints about bullying, and 3 complaints about sexual harassment. His work has been declining over the past month, no images added to articles, quite a few grammatical errors in the paper that shouldn't be there. Rory mentioned that she'd like to get a new editor on board at that publication, so we were just meeting to discuss how that would work." Ben explained to Logan.

"Right, how soon can we get him out of there?"

"Probably tomorrow. We'd be looking at a payout figure, but it won't be too bad,"

"That's fine. Know anyone capable of running a paper?" Logan asked, half joking.

"I was going to ask you and Rory the same thing. Rory did mention that she knew someone who might be interested, it would just be a matter of getting them over to the UK,"

"Sounds good. Think it can wait 'til tomorrow?"

"Yeah man, that will be fine. Send Rory my best, hopefully those girls behave!"

"Thanks, Ben. We'll talk tomorrow. Night,"

Logan smiled as he noticed Rory walking into the kitchen. She wandered over and kissed him.

"Ace, you should be in bed!"

"I missed you too much. Besides, your cooking smelt amazing and I couldn't resist,"

"On the couch you go!" he laughed, "I'll bring dinner in,"

"Boosy boots!" she called as she made her way to the lounge and made herself comfortable.


	24. i've got a list of names

"Well, what do you think Steph? Up to the challenge?" Rory asked Steph. She'd only been on bed rest for 2 days and was already starting to go stir-crazy, and had video called Steph for a chat, but had ended up talking about the paper in Manchester. Rory knew it was a long shot, Steph was very settled at her fashion editor job in New York, but when she had run the idea past Logan he had been all for it.

"Manchester, yeah?" Steph queried, "How far away is that from you guys?"

"It's only 3 hours by train, it's really not that far!" Rory watched Steph's face as she listened to Rory's response, she had learnt to read it quite well over the last few years. And while she knew that Steph was going to want some thinking time, she also knew that she wouldn't turn down the opportunity.

"And you and Logan would be my bosses?" Steph asked, a smirk playing on her face.

"On a technicality, yes. But I promise, we're really lovely! And we would honestly more or less let you run it how you wanted," Rory wished she would just say yes. She was so proud of her friend, once upon a time it had been her goal to find a rich husband, but she had taken her career quite seriously once she had found her niche.

"Ok Rory, I'm sold. I do feel like a sell out for leaving fashion, but I'm assuming the paper has some sort of society pages so I may just structure it so that I can run that. I'll need to talk to Colin, but I don't think it'll be an issue, his dad's been on him about moving up in the company. Can I let you know by the end of the weekend?"

Rory grinned, "Sure thing. I'll get HR to send across all of the final details to you this afternoon. But seriously, Steph, you're going to be so close!"

Steph laughed at her friend's excitement, "Rosie and Finn are going to be beyond jealous! Now, enough work talk, how are you feeling? How's your shopping going?"

"Oh, you know…I've been put on bed rest so I'm a bit over it all at the moment. Can't wait for it to be over, actually."

"Oh, you poor thing! How many weeks left to go?"

"16! It's ridiculous!"

"Is Logan keeping you company though? What about the shopping?"

"He's barely let me out of his sight. He had to go to a meeting today but he'll be home any minute. And the shopping…well, I'm going to look at everything online and just organise to have it delivered,"

"Always so organised," Steph giggled, "Alright, well Colin is home so I'm gonna get going. I'll chat with him tonight and I'll let you know,"

"Thanks, lovely. Chat soon," and Rory clicked their Skype call off, smiling to herself.

An hour later Logan walked through the door, finding Rory dozing on the couch. He quickly made his way upstairs to get changed, heading back into the snug as Rory woke up.

"Hey, sleepyhead," he greeted her with a kiss.

"Hi, gorgeous. How was your meeting?"

"Lots of numbers, lots of talking. But there are some really great figures coming out of most of our European publications, so happy days right now. Have you had a nice afternoon?"

"That's great babe, nothing I need to be aware of?"

"The minutes are being emailed to you as we speak, but they can wait. Nothing urgent, I promise,"

"I have some news for you," Rory smiled at him before continuing, "I'm pretty sure I found a new editor for Manchester,"

"Oh really? You're going to tell me now?" he teased; she had been quite secretive about her idea.

"Steph," she said with a smile before passing him her empty water bottle, "And can I have a top up please?"

"Steph? As in, our Steph?" He asked, standing up and walking to the kitchen to get her some water. He walked back in a minute or so later, "You're serious Ace? What'd she say?"

Rory shrugged, "Well, she's thinking about it. She basically said yes, though."

"She's happy to leave fashion? Doesn't she have a fairly cushy job? What about Colin?"

"She mentioned something about running the society paged herself, to be honest, I think she's happy to be closer to us. I think there's something going on with Colin and his dad though, you might want to call him. Besides, I'm sure once Colin realises that Finn will be insanely jealous he'll be sold on the idea,"

Logan laughed at Rory's comment, he knew it was true and could hear his two best friends fighting over who got to spend the most time with the twins. "I'll give him a call tomorrow, let him enjoy his night with Steph,"

"But the idea, you like it?"

"Babe, it's great. I trust Steph 100%. I think she'll do an amazing job,"

"Me too," Rory smiled, "Now, it's too late for lunch and too early for dinner, but these babies are starving, think you can find me something to eat?"

—

"Alright Rory, how are you feeling?" Dr Alice asked as she sat opposite Rory.

"Well, I'm a bit bored, but other than that I'm all good. No pains, no sickness, just bored,"

"I'm glad to hear that. I know it's difficult, but bed is the best place for you right now."

"She's been doing quite well, Alice. Mostly on the couch but definitely a lot more relaxed," Logan commented.

"Excellent. We'll still check the babies today to make sure they are growing as we expect, and we'll check to make sure this labour is definitely delayed. Now Rory, how are your stress levels going? Work still ok?"

"Work's going well, I've been doing a few hours a day from home, but nothing too draining,"

"What about your family situations? I know you both mentioned there had been some issues, especially with your mothers?"

"My mum apologised, and Logan's has stayed fairly quiet over the last month or so,"

"But it's resolved? Minimal stress from them?" Alice queried.

"I don't know it it's resolved…maybe more of a truce?" offered Rory.

"Alright. Ok, so this isn't normally something I would say, but I feel that we have a fairly good relationship. Rory, you need to have this resolved before the babies arrive. A truce is all well and good, but people's true colours tend to come out when there's new life. Just keep it in mind, 'kay?"

Rory's eyes looked at Logan, and he noticed that they had filled with tears. They hadn't spoken much about Lorelai since they saw her at the wedding; Rory hadn't wanted to dwell on the awkwardness, and Logan hadn't wanted to bring it up in fear of making Rory feel worse.

"How do we do that though when we're trying to keep Rory's stress to a minimum though, Alice?" Logan asked, his hand rubbing his temple.

"Six one, half a dozen the other," Alice smiled, "Up to you two, though. I suppose you could probably better manage the stress now rather than when you have newborns and are seriously sleep deprived,"

A few hours later, Logan and Rory were sitting on their terrace, Logan had fashioned her a day bed of sorts so that she could enjoy the final rays of sunshine before the cold weather really set in.

"So, my mum…" she began.

"And mine," he added.

"Yep. What are we going to do?"

"I say we call them out on it, Ace. Well, more for Lorelai. Shira's already admitted to everything,"

"I know," Rory frowned, "But how? Phone, Skype, in person?"

Logan thought about what Rory had said, "Maybe Skype? In person isn't going to happen right now, and I think it'll be best if you can see her reaction. Tea?"

"I agree. Yes please,"

"I'll be two minutes," he smiled, kissing the top of her before walking into the kitchen.

He walked out a few minutes later with two teas, and the mail that had arrived.

Rory made a start on opening the mail, surprised to find a thick envelope from the states. She opened it, smiling as she realised what it contained.

"Well, we have our new editor for Manchester," she said with a grin.


	25. now it's all rusted

"I still can't believe the two of you will be together over there and I'll be stuck in New York!" Rosemary said, talking to Steph and Rory on Skype.  
"You're hardly _stuck_ in New York, you and Finn love it there," Rory responded, "Besides, you can visit. You're still coming here for Christmas, yes?"  
"Well, yes. And 2 weeks after the babies are born,"  
Exactly," said Steph, matter of factly. "Besides, I'll be in Manchester, it's 3 hours from Rory!"  
"Still closer than me," Rosemary mumbled, "Just be prepared for me to visit a lot!"  
"We wouldn't expect anything less!" Steph said with a smile. "Now, onto the purpose of this: Rory's baby shower! What are we doing?"  
"Oh, no, girls it's fine! You're coming here for Christmas, I don't want to overtake the celebrations!"  
Rory, we are throwing you a baby shower. You're not going to talk your way out of this. Besides, do you think the great Emily Gilmore will let you get away without one? We're all flying out on the 18th, and will have the shower on the 21st," Rosemary spoke quickly, a habit she had learned from Rory. "Do you have a guest list for me?"  
"Can I get it to you next week?"  
Of course, everything ok, babe?" Steph questioned, knowing her friend was usually beyond organised.  
"Yeah, just want to check it with Logan," Rory smiled.  
The girls chatted for a little while longer, Steph sending them links to the houses that she and Colin had been looking at, and Rosemary finally admitting that she had officially moved in with Finn.

"Ready, Ace?" Logan asked as he helped Rory put her feet up on the couch in the office.  
"Ready as I'll ever be," she frowned, "Mum first, then grandma?"  
"Yep, and I'll be right here," he said, pointing to his desk. "I won't say a word unless it gets out of hand. She won't even know I'm here," kissing her head gently he reached across to the computer to press the call button next to Lorelai's name, and then sat down on the edge of his desk, well out of view of the camera.

"Hey, kid," Lorelai answered happily, "How are you?"  
"Good. Bored. How about you?"  
"Busy, the inn is packed at the moment which is a bit strange, normally October is fairly quiet. Not complaining though, busy is great. But the dreaded bed rest, how is that going?"  
"Oh, it's alright, catching up on movies and books,"  
"Sounds great, babes. How's the nesting going?"  
"Bed rest put a stop to it, but we have plans to get a wriggle on this week," Rory glanced up at Logan who nodded his head. "Logan and I were talking about Christmas earlier, do you think you and dad will make it over?"  
"That's the plan, hun. Who else is coming?"  
"Grandma and grandpa, Finn and Rosie, Colin and Steph, Honor and Josh, Paris and Doyle, and Mitchum and Shira."  
"Oh…that's a lot of people, I thought it would just be us? Are you sure there's room for us? I mean we could always come in early December or late January?" Lorelai said very quickly.  
"No, no, no, it's absolutely fine! You have to come, Rosemary and Steph are planning a baby shower."  
"And my mother is going to be there? I think it's best that I come at a different time, kid."  
"Mum, don't be ridiculous! I know you and dad have been having dinner with them each week," Rory stated in the calmest voice she could manage.

"Well, yes, but…" Lorelai began.  
"No. No buts. I know this isn't about grandma. There's a big elephant in the conversation and you won't acknowledge it!"  
"No elephants here,"  
"Mum! I know that this is about Shira! When are you going to acknowledge it, let alone apologise for anything?"  
"I'm not apologising for anything, Rory. I didn't do anything!"  
"You have got to be kidding me!" Rory's eyes looked across to Logan; she wasn't sure where to begin with her mother.  
"No, Rory. I've done nothing wrong. You're the one who changed the plans! I'm the one who deserves an apology here!"  
"Seriously? You actually think that?"  
"We had plans for your life! You were supposed to be focused on your career, be an international correspondent!"  
"So the plan changed! I have a career, although I'm sure you know all about it since you are so friendly with Shira."  
"Yeah, sure, that's such a career, Rory. You aren't even there half the time, you can't do that with a real job!"  
"Enough," Logan said calmly, moving to sit next to Rory. He kissed the side of her head and she squeezed his hand; they both had had enough of this conversation.  
"Oh, that's it, get Logan to jump to your defence!"  
"No mum, that's not it at all. Logan is taking care of me because one of OUR daughters is trying her best to arrive early. I need to have minimal stress and you aren't helping."  
"You wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for Logan!"  
"I'm done," Rory whispered in Logan's ear.  
Logan smiled at her before he responded to Lorelai. "Lorelai, we're done. Rory can't do this anymore, and I don't think she should have to. Have a good day." And with that, Logan ended the video call.

Rory was curled under a blanket on the couch, listening as Logan ordered Thai takeaway for their dinner. She was replaying the conversation with her mother over in her mind, and still couldn't make sense of it. She and Logan had discussed it at length for over an hour, and neither of them could understand Lorelai's logic.

"Ok, Ace, so they don't deliver on Tuesday nights, God knows why. I'm going to have to go pick it up. Will you be ok?"  
"Of course, sweetie. It's only around the corner, you'll be back before I know it."  
"I'm worried about you, babe. That conversation with your mum…"  
"It's alright. I promise. I guess we just expected that she would have realised that we're happy and in a good place. But she hasn't. I'm alright, I promise." She stretched over to him and kissed him on his lips.  
"Alright. But if you want to talk about it…"  
"You're here, I know. Thank you for being so amazing."  
Logan kissed her on the forehead, "Alright, I'll be 10 minutes, tops. Love you."  
"I love you!" Rory called up the hallway.


	26. leave you breathless

It was early December, and Rory and Logan had just left Alice's office. Rory was ecstatic; she was finally off bed rest after 8 agonisingly long weeks, and that meant she could finally go shopping for their babies and for Christmas. Logan, however, had other ideas.

"She still said you need to take it easy, Ace,"

"Yes, but I can walk around now, we can finally go shopping!"

"Well, yes, she did say that. But she also said you need to take it easy and not to push yourself too hard."

"But Logan, we need to get organised! We have 12 people coming over for Christmas in 2 weeks, and twins arriving anywhere in the next 7 to 12 weeks. I know we looked online, but I'd really like to see them in person."

"Well, you, my darling, are in luck. We have an appointment with Margaret at the baby shop near home in 20 minutes." Logan paused as he watched Rory's face light up with excitement, before continuing, "But you need to know that she is very aware of the fact that you need to remain calm and take it easy."

Rory rolled her eyes at her husband, and kissed his cheek gently, "This is going to be fun!"

They arrived at the baby boutique a little after 11 am. Rory noticed a sign on the door stating that the shop was closed on Friday between 11 am and 2 pm. She pointed this out to Logan who smirked at her before pushing the door open and guiding her inside. Margaret greeted them at the door, welcoming them into the store and through to a lounge area that was set up.

"Would you like some tea, dears?" she queried.

"Oh yes please, that'd be lovely Margaret. Thank you," Rory responded with a smile.

Margaret left them to make tea, giving Rory a few moments to grill Logan about what was going on.

"Well, Ace, since we don't have a lot of time to get everything sorted, I thought the easiest way would be to do it all now. And when I called Margaret to discuss, she offered to close the store for us for a few hours."

Rory frowned for a moment, and then squeezed his hand, "Thank you for thinking of everything," she whispered.

Margaret returned with their tea, and after a few minutes of chatting, they decided to do what they had come there to do: shop!

Margaret was methodic, starting with the nursery furniture. She asked what colours and styles Rory and Logan liked, and was pleasantly surprised when Logan handed her some images that they had found online.

Margaret smiled, "This is different to what I expected. Most couples come in here wanting a very white, very luxurious looking room for their baby. You two…well, this is marvellous!"

"Thanks, Margaret," Rory began, "We just wanted something a little bit different, a little boho, something a little more…us." Rory looked across at Logan with a small smirk on her face, "Which means that you need to get Henry back from Finn."

Margaret looked at the young couple, with a knowing smile on her face. She knew that they had both come from society backgrounds, and she knew all that that entailed. But she could tell from the way they interacted with one another, the way that he would move mountains for her and she for him, that they would provide their children with a beautiful family and a wonderful home.

"Well, if this is what you are using as inspiration, I can definitely help! We have a cot that is very similar to the one in this picture," she said happily, "It's a weathered white timber with a four-poster style canopy. I even have other nursery furniture in the same style, but it doesn't look too matchy-matchy. Shall we go and have a look?"

Rory and Logan followed Margaret as she took them towards the set up of the furniture line she was recommending.

"Oh! It's beautiful!" Rory exclaimed as she took in what Margaret was showing them. "I absolutely adore it! What do you think, babes?"

"It's perfect, Ace. Let's do the light timber in one room and the darker timber in the other,"

"I love it! So we'll get the cot, bookcase, a tall dresser, and a lower wide dresser with the change-table top, in both colours."

"I'm so glad you like it so much! My daughter chose a similar style as well. Now, when the babies come home from the hospital, where are you planning on having them sleep?" Margaret asked with a smile, "Straight into cots or would you like to look at bassinettes?"

"I've done a bit of research, and I think I'd like the girls to share a cot for the first few months, and definitely in our bedroom." Rory's eyes locked with Logan's, relaxing a little as he smiled back at her. "But we'll still get two. We'll set the other one up in one of their rooms so that it's ready to go later on."

"That sounds perfect, Rory." Margaret smiled, as she guided them back to the seating area. "Now, let's start looking at prams…"

Two hours later, Rory and Logan left the store feeling extremely accomplished. They had purchased the vast majority of things they needed for their babies and had put a registry together for their friends and family. At first, Rory had been hesitant to do so, she didn't expect anyone to buy anything for them. But then Logan, and to some extent Margaret, had reminded her that she was a Gilmore and a Huntzberger, and that people would send gifts whether they wanted them or not. And as Logan said, "we don't need 100 Tiffany rattles!".

As they approached their front gate, Rory's phone began ringing. She answered the call, pleased to hear Steph's voice on the other side.

"How are you, sunshine?" Steph asked her.

"Great, off of bed rest and we _finally_ organised everything for the babies! How are you, mon cheri?"

"Absolutely wonderful! I'm just wondering where abouts you keep the coffee in this perfect kitchen of yours?"

"What are you talking about, Steph? Are you at our place?" Rory asked excitedly.

"Open the door and find out," Logan whispered into Rory's other ear.

"Steph?" Rory called as she opened the front door to their house. She didn't get a reply, so she walked down the hall and downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hello, love!" she heard, and let out a squeal before dropping her handbag on the floor and hugging Finn tightly. She looked around the kitchen and took in the group of friends that had gathered: Finn, Rosemary, Steph, and Colin.

"What on earth are you all doing here?" she said excitedly, before turning to Rosemary, "You told me you weren't arriving until the 18th!"

Rosemary shrugged and smiled at Rory, "We heard that you might be in need of some help, so we changed our plans."

"You are all far too kind. Thank you," she gave each of them a hug, and then turned to Logan and kissed him deeply, "Thanks, baby. This is incredible."

The six friends spent a few hours catching up with one another, before deciding to get themselves organised for dinner. Colin and Steph had booked a hotel a few blocks away, while Rosemary and Finn would be staying in the guest suite at Rory and Logan's place.

Logan stood in the doorway to their ensuite, watching as Rory stood under the stream of water in the shower. He took in the shape of her figure, and admired every inch of it. Quickly removing his clothes, he opened the shower door and stepped in, placing a light kiss on her shoulder as his hands wrapped around her waist. She sighed softly, and turned around in his arms. He took advantage of this, kissing her passionately. Her hands ventured up to his hair, pulling him closer to her. Slowly, his kisses began to trail across her jawline and down her neck, before making their way down to her breasts. Rory responded with low moans, not realising that Logan had gently pushed her against the shower wall. He paused for a moment, looking her in the eye as he told her how beautiful she was before his kisses continued to travel lower, dropping to his knees and kissing down her belly, teasing her gently.

An hour later, Logan headed down to the living room and poured himself and Finn a scotch, and made Rosemary a martini. Rory wandered in a few minutes later, wearing the red dress that Logan had loved so much when they had dinner with her parents. She had managed to squeeze her feet into a pair of rather high Jimmy Choo's, curled her hair slightly, and put on some light makeup with lots of mascara. As she walked into the room, Logan's jaw dropped.

Noticing the look on his friend's face, Finn turned around, curious as to what had happened. "Well, Huntzberger," he began, "turns out you do have the hottest wife after all."

Rosemarie agreed, "Ror, you look amazing! Seriously, if I could get a guarantee that I'd look like that pregnant with twins, I would've had kids years ago! The pregnancy glow is real!"

Rory blushed a little. She was a little more dressed up than her friends usually saw, but she didn't think she looked that different. "Thank you for the compliments, but honestly, it's just a dress!"

Logan smirked at Rory's comment, before walking over to her and kissing her cheek. "Pregnancy glow, hey?" he whispered, "I think it might be something else…"

"We have company, Mr Huntzberger. And a dinner reservation. Hands to yourself, for now," her eyes twinkled, their flirtatious comments filling her with lust.

"I think our friends are used to our affections, Mrs Huntzberger,"

"Right we are, mate. But Rory is right, dinner awaits. Colin and Steph will get antsy if we're any later," Finn interrupted. "And there is a car outside awaiting our departure. Shall we go?"


	27. you're so gorgeous

"Oh my God, that was incredible!" Rory said to Logan as they walked up to their bedroom together. "But my feet are _so_ sore!"

"Poor little scab-nose's feet," he said with a smirk.

Rory raised an eyebrow at his comment. "I've been waiting for you to bring that up," she muttered under her breath.

Logan chuckled, "Seriously though, babe, you're 7 months pregnant, maybe the 5-inch heels weren't the best idea?" He closed the bedroom door behind them, Finn and Rosemary were downstairs watching a movie together.

Rory sat down on their bed as she took her shoes off. "Truth?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to look good for you," she whispered.

Logan looked at her for a few seconds before responding. "Umm, what do you mean, Ace? You know I think you're gorgeous."

"I'm 7 months pregnant, Logan! With twins! I'm huge!"

He noticed the tears welling in her eyes and sat next to her on the bed. "Rory, you are carrying our twin daughters, of course you were going to put on a bit of weight. But seriously sweetie, you look absolutely incredible. You know I think that, you know it's true."

Rory sniffled, using the sleeve of her coat to wipe her nose. "I know, I just…oh fine!" she quickly stood up and pulled her dress off, leaving her in her lacy black underwear that she had chosen to surprise Logan with that night. She threw her dress in the direction of their walk-in wardrobe and stood in front of Logan. "Look!" she said loudly, pointing to a very faint stretch mark on the side of her belly.

Logan smirked at her, before quickly changing it to a faint smile. "Ace, really?" he asked as he looked up into her eyes.

"Yes, really," she mumbled as she rolled her eyes, "I know it's silly…"

Logan leant and kissed along the faintest stretch mark he had ever heard of. "Babe, this is part of you, part of the story of our daughters. I love every single part of you, even this beautiful little line."

She bit the corner of her lip, taking in what he had said. "You are beyond perfect, Mr Huntzberger." Leaning down, she kissed his lips gently, "Thank you," she whispered.

"You're the perfect one, Mrs Huntzberger," he kissed her back, his hands moving up to her head as he ran his fingers through her hair. "I love you," he whispered to her as he pulled her on top of him.

Saturday afternoon rolled around quickly, and while Logan, Colin, and Finn were off having a long lunch somewhere, Rory, Rosemary, and Steph were sitting in the snug with the fire roaring, organising the baby shower. Logan and Rory had finalised the guest list, deciding not to have a traditional women's only shower, which they knew would ruffle Shira and Emily's feathers.

"So, you need to promise me, no games, no silly baby stations. Just friends, food, and a lovely afternoon."

"Ok, Ror, we promise," Rosemary responded, "But you and Logan need to open presents with everyone there!"

"Ok, ok!" Rory laughed, "Deal!"

"Darlings!" Finn called out as he walked down the hallway. The girls listened to Logan bossing Colin and Finn around, and as they walked down into the snug they realised why. Colin and Finn appeared to have had a liquid lunch, while Logan was carrying a tray with a teapot and cups.

"I thought you might like some tea, ladies," Logan said as he set the tray down and kissed Rory.

"Are you sure you aren't just trying to butter us up after getting Finn and Colin drunk?" Rosemary asked, a small giggle giving her away.

"Trust me, they didn't need any help. Think they missed each other more than either of them let on," Logan smirked.

"Quite right, Huntz." Finn announced, before turning to Rosemary. "How do you feel about moving to this side of the pond, gorgeous? It's far too lonely back home."

Rosemary raised an eyebrow in Rory's direction before responding to Finn, "How about we talk about this tomorrow, 'kay?"

"That's a no," Colin said loudly and dejectedly.

"It's not a no," Rosemary shot daggers at Colin, "but we need to talk about it. You and Steph spoke about it, did you not?"

"Well, yes…"

"Exactly, McCrea. Besides, you're both drunk. Finn and I will talk about it in the morning."

Logan smiled as he watched his friends bicker. He knew that Finn was seriously considering a move to London; Finn's father had been recently hinting about European expansion and trusted Finn to explore potential sites.

"So, Ace," he spoke softly to Rory, "Chinese and movies tonight?"

"Sounds perfect. You sure they're gonna be happy with that, though?" she asked, her head nodding to Colin and Finn, who had found the DVD collection.

"Course! They suggested it, babe."

Steph and Colin left for Manchester the following morning, as much as they wished they could've stayed, they both needed to get back to work for the next week. Finn and Rosemary decided to venture out on their own for their Sunday afternoon, giving them a chance to talk about future plans.

"All alone for the first time in 3 days, Ace. Feel like talking names?" Logan queried, a smile playing on his lips.

"Yep! I'm just gonna grab some lunch first though," she smiled at him, slowly starting to stand up.

"Sit down, babe. I'll get the leftovers."

A few minutes later, Logan set down the leftover Chinese containers on the coffee table in the snug. He smiled at Rory, who was snuggled up on the couch under a blanket, and handed her a bowl full of her favourite Chinese. He sat down next to her and tucked his feet under the blanket.

"Alright, Ace, I'm sure you've got a list. Let's hear it," he said with a smirk, his feet gently poking her leg.

"Middle names first?" she asked.

"Sure."

"Ok, well, let me know what you think, but I thought Honor and Emily," she said nervously.

"I think they're both perfect, seriously, Ror. I love them," he smiled at her, "Should I be expecting one Lorelai? It is kinda tradition…"

"Nope, no Lorelai. I just…I can't carry on a tradition that my mother started."

He reached over and squeezed her ankle. "Are you sure, babe?I don't want this to be something you regret."

"I'm sure. I've thought about it a lot. I truly have. And I just can't do it, sweetie."

"Alright, Ace, I get it."

"But I do have a list…" she said, a smile playing on her lips, "Check your email, Huntzberger."

A few hours later, Finn and Rosemary arrived back to a very quiet house. They walked through the kitchen and then downstairs into the snug, where they found Rory and Logan cuddled together, asleep, on the couch.

"It's alright, darling, we can tell them our exciting news at dinner," Rosemary whispered to him, taking his hand and leading him back upstairs, "I think we can do some celebrating of our own in the mean time though…"


	28. in your wildest dreams

Logan stirred in his sleep as he felt something moving against the palm of his hand. He woke suddenly, smiling down at the arm he had draped across Rory's mid-section. __The kicking,__ he thought to himself with a smile, realising that it had been one of the babies. He stretched his legs slightly, before glancing at his watch. __That can't be the time, surely,__ he thought, noting that his watch was telling him it was 6:45 pm. He traced gentle circles on Rory's belly, hoping to rouse her from her sleep softly. His trick worked, and she slowly began to flutter her eyes open.  
"Good evening, sleepy head," he teased and kissed her forehead gently.  
She smiled back at him before she was able to process his words. "Evening?" she queried.  
"Yep, apparently we slept for 5 hours, Ace. With no interruptions."  
She smiled at him and leant up to kiss him on his lips. "Do you think there might be a chance of organising some dinner?"  
Logan laughed, "Of course, Finn mentioned something about dinner earlier today."  
"Perfect," she responded with a smile, "Let's go!" She stood up slowly, pulling her sweater around her tightly.  
"Umm, Ace?"  
"Yeah, babe?"  
"You might want to go and get changed…I mean, I think you're utterly gorgeous in sweats, but I think dinner may require at least jeans," he smirked at her as he sat up and reached for her hips to bring her closer. He lifted her sweater and tank top up, and kissed her belly, whispering to their daughters about how gorgeous their mother was and how he couldn't wait to meet them.  
"Don't tell them that too much, they'll get funny ideas. They need to stay right where they are for at least another 6 weeks." She smiled at Logan, and reached down to kiss the top of his head. "Come on, let's go get changed."

Finn and Rosemary were waiting for them in the living room, they had organised dinner for 8 pm at Rosemary's suggestion; she knew how tired Rory had been getting lately and wanted to let her nap for as long as possible. Finn poured himself and Rosemary a drink, passing one to her as he asked if she was sure about what they had discussed.  
"Of course I'm sure, silly. I wouldn't have said I was if I hadn't meant it," she smiled at him.  
"But, Rosie, what about your job? You love your job!"  
She raised both of her eyebrows at him, her look of exasperation. "Finn. I meant every word. It's going to be fine. I work in marketing for crying out loud, I'll find something quickly."  
"I love you, you know that right?" he asked her as he kissed her hard on the lips.

"That was a very grand kiss, Finn," Rory proclaimed as she slowly walked down the stairs, "what are you celebrating?"  
Finn smiled mischievously at Rory, "Nothing for you to worry about just yet, Huntzberger."  
Rory feigned shock, "Huntzberger? You said I would always be Gilmore to you!"  
"There are times when Huntzberger suits you better, particularly when you have that smirk on your face."  
Rory sat next to Rosemary and thanked her for planning dinner for a little later than normal.  
"Nothing to thank me for, lovely. Just knew you needed some sleep," Rosemary smiled at her, "And look at you, you look extremely well rested."  
"I don't know whether or not to be offended about that; did I really look that awful before?" Rory smiled at her friend, knowing she wouldn't take her seriously.  
"Oh definitely. You looked atrocious!" Rosemary exclaimed, "Except that you know you didn't, and you know that I think you are stunning!"  
"Are you hitting on my wife?" Logan asked with a smirk, as he walked into the room and poured himself a scotch.  
"How could I resist her, she's absolutely perfect!" Rosemary responded.  
Laughing, Rory slipped an arm around Rosemary's shoulders, "I think we may just run away together."  
"Sorry to break up this little soiree, but I think it's time we left for dinner," Finn huffed, not impressed that he had been left out of the conversation.  
Logan laughed at Finn's reaction, "Don't worry, bud. I'll be here for you."  
"Finn's right," Rory stated, "it's time to go. I'm beyond hungry."

The group arrived at the local pub, removing their coats as they entered and found a table by the open fire. They settled in, ordering their meals and 2 bowls of extra fries. Their conversation at dinner was light, Rory had made a few comments about heading into work the next day, which Logan had stoically ignored and filed away to discuss when they got home.  
Finally working up the courage, Finn cleared his throat. "Alright, my 2 favourite Huntzbergers, Rosie and I have some news for you."  
"We like news," Rory smiled at Finn, and then at Rosemary, "but only if it's happy news, at the moment."  
"I think you'll both be pleased…we are sending Henry to live back with the two of you!"  
Rory and Logan both rolled their eyes at the same time.  
"My God, you are like twins!" Finn exclaimed.  
"Well, that was a little underwhelming, mate," Logan responded. "But we'll be glad to have Henry back, we've missed our first child."  
Now it was Rosemary's turn to roll her eyes. "You know it's an inanimate object, don't you, Logan?"  
Logan gasped, "You'll hurt his feelings!" which was followed by Rory bursting into laughter.  
"We'll be glad to have him home, Finn. But I don't think that was your news…"  
"You would be right, darling." Finn cleared his throat again before continuing, "It looks as though Rosemary and I will be joining you in London in the new year, on a permanent basis!"  
Rory squealed and Logan had a very large grin on his face. "Seriously?" she said excitedly, directing her question to Rosemary, "He's not joking?"  
"Seriously! We talked about it all day, Finn called his dad who was beyond thrilled, so we thought, why not? All of our friends are over here, we'll have two beautiful nieces soon, we'd be crazy not to move!"  
"Guys, seriously, that's amazing. When do you think you'll move?" Logan asked.  
"Well, we're heading back on the 5th of January, and were planning on coming back out at the end of February to meet the babies. But we might need to push that back to mid- March, just depends on how quickly Finn can pack his bags," Rosemary smiled and kissed Finn's cheek.  
"I'll have you know I could be packed within a day, I've helped these two often enough," he stated happily.

Later that night, as they lay in bed, Rory smiled at Logan. He took his eyes off of the book he was reading and asked her what she was thinking.  
"Our babies are going to have a family, Logan. A huge family," she whispered, a few tears falling from her eyes.  
"I know, Ace. They really are."  
"They're going to be so loved."  
"They already are," he smiled at her as she snuggled into him, her head on his chest.


	29. i wonder if you know

"Babe, come on, it's time to go!" Logan called up the stairs to Rory. It was 2 days before the baby shower and they needed to get to the airport to pick up her grandparents.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she announced as she walked down the stairs, carrying her boots and coat. "I just need you to help me with my boots. I can't reach down enough to put them on."

Logan smiled at her, shaking his head slightly as he took in her skinny jeans that were currently paired with bright red Santa socks. He was overtaken by her beauty; she had put on a fitted black jumper that fit snuggly over her perfect baby bump.

She sat on the couch in the living room and passed her boots to him, extending one leg out in front of her. He guided her foot into the boot and zipped it up, before doing the same with the other one.

"I'm glad to see that you decided on flat shoes today, Ace," he said as he held his hand out to help her up.

"I think I'm well past heels at this point, babe. There are 2 pineapple sized babies inside after all."

"Pineapples, hey?"

"Pineapples," she said with a nod and a smile. "You didn't get the alert on your phone?"

"Nah, I think I left it at the office yesterday afternoon. But thank you for updating me." He took her coat and helped her into it, kissing her lips as buttoned it above her bump. She picked her handbag up from the couch and took his hand as they walked out the door.

Having parked the car, they slowly walked into the arrivals hall of Heathrow Airport. Logan located them some vacant seats, and they sat together holding hands, looking every bit in love as they were.

"Well, this brings back some memories," he said softly as he squeezed her hand.

"Tell me about it," she smiled, "how many times did you meet me here, flowers in hand?"

"Countless, Ace." he kissed the side of her head, "And it was worth every millisecond."

She smiled at him before noticing passengers entering the arrivals hall.

The two of them stood up and moved a little closer, excited to see Richard and Emily. They had to wait less than a minute before they saw them, each pulling a rather large suitcase behind them.

"Grandpa! Grandma!" Rory yelled excitedly, waving her free arm in front of her. Both of her grandparents beamed at her, and moved to the side of the walkway to envelope both Rory and Logan in their arms.

"Rory, darling, you look marvellous!" Emily exclaimed with a smile, "Honestly, what a beauty you are!"

"Oh grandma, don't be silly. How was your flight?"

"Oh the usual, subpar gin and horrible food, but no matter. We are here now!"

"Richard, it's wonderful to see you. Thank you so much for coming." Logan smiled as he shook Richard's hand.

"We wouldn't want to be anywhere else, Logan. Thank you for having us." Richard smiled at Logan and then at Rory. "My, look at you! You look wonderful, Rory. Truly wonderful."

"Thanks, grandpa." Rory smiled as a light blush spread across her cheeks. "We missed you, both of you!"

"And we missed you, my dear," Richard responded as he gave his granddaughter another hug.

"How are you, Logan?" Emily asked, as she placed her arm through Logan's proffered arm.

"Excellent, Emily. Honestly. Everything's been going really well," he responded, before adding in a lower voice, "and Rory has been calm and more or less completely stress-free."

"That's wonderful to hear, thank you for taking such extraordinary care of her."

"Of course, wouldn't have it any other way." he smiled at her, as they arrived at the car.

"Good." Emily smiled at him as she got into the car.

They arrived back at home, having spent the drive catching up on Hartford gossip, which really consisted of Emily talking and Richard, Logan, and Rory half listening. Logan insisted on bringing their bags inside, waving away Richard's protests that they would stay at a hotel. "We have more than enough space, Grandpa. Don't be silly!" Rory stated as she overheard their conversation.

"We just don't want to get in your way…" Richard began in response.

"Nonsense!" Rory exclaimed, "Come in, we have it all set up for you." Rory opened the door to guide them in, showing them through the lower levels of the house before Logan took them upstairs. They had decided to set Richard and Emily up in the guest suite on the top floor, allowing them to have their own space away from Rory, Logan, Finn, and Rosemary. Emily was amazed by the house, and commented on how spacious it was and how lucky they were to have a garden in inner London.

They settled in for dinner a few hours later, ordering Italian from their favourite restaurant around the corner. Finn and Rosemary joined them for dinner, with Finn charming Emily within minutes of sitting down. Logan was surprised, however, as Finn was being perfectly polite - a true gentleman. He brought this up with Rory as they climbed into bed, wanting to hear her opinion on what had happened.

"Don't you see, Finn is actually being himself," she remarked. "Think about it, with the exception of the other night when you 3 stooges went to the pub, when was the last time you heard about him being drunk?"

Logan sat there, trying to recall. When he couldn't, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Exactly. He hasn't been getting wasted each day. This is him," she paused for a few seconds before she continued, "It always has been him. His drunkenness was just a facade. He truly is a gentleman. Look what he did for us," she whispered the last statement, smiling at Logan as her fingers ran down his face.

"I know. I owe him everything."

"We would've made our way back together eventually, you know," she whispered.

"Maybe. But it meant that we didn't waste any time, look at how far we've come this year, Ace." he kissed her hand gently. "You're my wife, we're having twin daughters, we're happily settled in London, we're excelling at work, we're doing pretty well."

Rory moved and snuggled against his body, her head resting on his chest, "You're excelling at work, babe. I'm not even there…"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ace! Have you picked up a HPG paper recently? Have you read the improvement in content? That's all you, babe. Take the credit. What's even more amazing is that you've been doing it without being in the office 24/7. Seriously, dad needs to step up his game. The content coming from Europe is stronger than the States."

Rory smiled up at him, tilting her head back to kiss him. "Thank you."

"For…?"

"For saying those things. For having faith in me. I love you,"

"I love you too, babe," he whispered as he kissed her deeply.

His hands had started to move up from her stomach, making a bee-line for her boobs when there was a knock on their bedroom door.

"Yeah?" Logan called out, clearly exasperated.

Finn opened the door, taking in where his friend's hand was placed, a grin forming across his face. "Sorry to interrupt, love, but your sister-in-law is here," he directed this at Rory before he opened the door wider.

"Rory!" Honor yelled as she pushed past Finn, barging her way into the bedroom. "Oh my God! Look at you!" she quickly made her way over to Rory, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You look amazing, honey. Seriously, all baby!"

Logan shook his head before greeting his sister. "How about I go and make some tea, leave you guys to chat for a bit."

Rory smiled at him and kissed him softly on the lips, "Thanks, baby. Don't be too long."

As he left the room he heard Honor comment on the lack of games at the baby shower. Shutting the door behind him, he made his way downstairs to the kitchen and laughed as he saw the number of gift bags Honor had brought with her. _This baby shower is going to be brilliant_ , he thought to himself, a smile playing across his lips as he thought about the special gift he had found for their babies.


	30. should've known

On the morning of their baby shower, Rory awoke to an empty bed. Frowning slightly, she sat up as she heard voices coming from downstairs. She slowly got out of bed, wrapping her dressing gown around her and slipping her feet into her slippers. She made her way downstairs, Logan's voice becoming louder and louder as she made her way into the kitchen.

He could sense her behind him before he saw her, immediately causing him to lower his voice.

"Surely it's a little early to be yelling, even for a Huntzberger?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

He ended the call abruptly. "Depends on the circumstances, Ace," he turned around to look at her, his hands resting behind him on the bench, "and today just happens to be one of those times."

Rory sighed, she knew that it wasn't often that Logan raised his voice, let alone at 7 am. "What happened?"

Logan hesitated, he didn't want Rory to have any stress on a day that they were celebrating their daughters. He also knew, however, that he couldn't keep it from her. Steph and Colin were due to arrive at 8 am and were sure to say something. He pulled out two stools at the kitchen bench, indicating for her to sit down. He opened his laptop, the screen lighting up and loading a news site. He spun the laptop slightly so that Rory had a clear view of the screen while he placed his hand on her shoulder and massaged it slightly. He was quickly taken aback by the giggle that had escaped her lips, his eyes flicking back to the screen to make sure the headline was still the same as it had been before: 'Huntzberger heir marries pregnant employee - is the baby even his?'.

"You could never look horrible, babe. I just don't understand the story. Why now? And where'd they get the wedding pictures from?"

Rory raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you really asking that question?".

Logan sighed and shut the laptop. "Not today," he whispered, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "there are far more important things to do today."

"I'm glad to hear it," she whispered in response, before she leant over and kissed him deeply. One of his hands gently pushed through her hair, pulling her in closer to kiss him deeper while the other hand slowly inched under her dressing gown. Her hands found the back of his head, and hooked together around his neck as his kisses began trailing down her neck. He had just begun to kiss down to the top of her chest as he heard someone clear their throat.

"Honor," he greeted, looking up from his wife's neck, "how are you this morning?"

"Can't you two ever keep your hands to yourselves?" She said with a roll of her eyes, causing Rory to blush.

"Could you if your wife looked like this 24/7?"

"Wrong gender for me, darling brother, but I see your point. Seriously, Ror, it's not fair that you look like that pregnant with twins."

"Well if it's any consolation, I feel like a whale," Rory said with a roll of her eyes, "but thank you all the same."

Logan busied himself making breakfast, leaving Honor and Rory to chat. He loved that his sister and wife got along so well; while they had many differences they were also similar in many ways. He had just finished placing the ricotta and blueberry pancakes he had made onto the bench when they were joined by Finn, Rosemary, Richard, and Emily. Noticing everyone's happy and calm demeanours, he was ecstatic that no one else seemed to have read the online news that morning. His feeling of elation was short-lived, however, with the arrival of Steph and Colin. He met them at the door where Steph pushed her iPad into his chest, demanding if he had done anything about the news article. He tried to explain that he and Rory were pushing it to the side for the day, but Steph couldn't comprehend why they were ignoring it.

"We aren't ignoring it, Steph, I promise," Rory said as she greeted her friends, taking Steph's hand and guiding her into their office. "We just need to not think about it today, we'll discuss it tomorrow."

"But by tomorrow it'll have been picked up by every newspaper in the country, if not the world. I've already had to call 3 of my journalists to demand they take the links down from their Twitter accounts, we need a plan, guys."

Logan sighed heavily as he looked across at Rory. she nodded at him, "Alright, 10 minutes. That's all the attention this gets today," she looked across at Steph, "what do you have in mind?"

Colin ran interference with the others while Rory, Logan, and Steph discussed options for the media. Rory and Logan maintained very private lives, keeping to themselves more often than not and ensuring all HPG publications adhered to the policy of not publishing images or stories about their personal lives. They decided that it may be time to begin releasing select images from public events that showed them together, starting off small with a photo here and there and seeing how it affected their media presence. Given that Steph was the editor in chief of their main Manchester publication, they decided to make a last-minute amendment to the society pages for the next day, adding a photo in of Rory and Logan at a charity Christmas function from a few days before. They were all happy with this decision, and decided to join their friends for breakfast.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of excitement, Steph, Honor, and Rosemary busy setting up for the shower. They had listened to Rory's request for a modern boho shower, and were fairly happy that they had delivered on the brief. Logan and Emily had kept Rory upstairs for the morning, ensuring she would be relaxed and also surprised when she made her way downstairs.

By the time 1130 rolled around, Rory stood in their bedroom, ready to join her friends and family downstairs before their guests arrived. She opened the door to Logan standing on the other side.

"Woah...Ace. You look incredible," he said in a low voice as he took in her appearance. She was wearing a fitted navy dress that stopped just above her knees, with a longline cream cardigan belted above her bump. She had softly curled her chocolate brown hair, letting it fall softly around her face.

She kissed him gently in response, before she took a few steps out of their room and pulled his hand with her to go downstairs.

When she thought about the shower later that night, she wasn't able to describe her reaction. Her friends had done the most amazing job, which she knew they would do, especially given Rosemary's role in executing their wedding plans. Arriving downstairs, she had been speechless, they had completely transformed the formal living and dining areas into the exact vision that Rory had for the event. They had used white, the palest of pale pinks, and a mint green creating a very modern feel, while still incorporating the boho theme in their choices of decorations. Even Logan had been impressed with the shower, never having been to one before he hadn't known what to expect but he was blown away. Once their guests arrived the day passed by in a blur, they had arranged catering from their favourite Italian restaurant and Emily had organised a beautiful cake that was made out to look like a merry go round. Even Shira had been on her best behaviour, commenting on how elegant the shower was and how radiant Rory looked.

"Did you not think that was strange?" Rory asked Logan as they got changed for bed.

Logan shrugged his shoulders, "I guess so, I just assumed she was playing the role of society mother well."

Rory thought about it for a few minutes, "Logan, I think she was being genuine. She made both of those comments to us in relatively private settings. I was alone with her for one, and Rosie was there for the other. I don't think it was her."

"I know you want to think that, babe, but history tells me something different. Just...be prepared for it to be her. Lorelai doesn't have the right connections to make that happen."

"I guess..." Rory commented as she slid into bed.

Logan climbed in behind her, resting his hand on her bump before he moved down the bed a little and kissed it. "Now, girls, mummy needs to get some sleep tonight so let's make sure we behave. We love you very much."

Rory smiled to herself as she listened to Logan talking to her baby belly. It was something that she could listen to all day, and loved that it had become part of their night time ritual. She closed her eyes as he continued whispering to their daughters, telling them all about their huge family that was waiting to meet them.


	31. christmas carols

Rory and Logan woke the next morning at almost the exact same time. Rory glanced at the clock on her bedside table, amazed that they had both managed to sleep until after 10 am.

"So, tree day," Logan said smiling, "Can't say I've ever experienced a whole day dedicated to a Christmas tree."

Rory kissed him softly on his lips, "Well, Huntzberger, you are in for a treat. We are going to go and buy a tree, lights, and silver and gold decorations, then we'll get some lunch, come back home, and decorate!"

"How could I resist something like that?" Logan chuckled.

A few hours later, Rory and Logan found themselves sitting across from Mitchum and Shira at Hemsley + Hemsley in Selfridges. Neither of them was sure how it had happened, but somehow his parents had conveniently managed to 'bump' into them in the Christmas shop, and convince them to have lunch together.

They hadn't been sitting down for long when Mitchum brought up the article from the previous day. "What are you planning on doing, Logan?"

A tiny smirk played on Logan's face, "We decided to begin to make a few appearances in the society pages, try and play to the interest by giving just enough."

Mitchum nodded his head, "Good decision, son. I think that should help. Who came up with that idea?"

"Steph, actually," Rory said, smiling. "The first photo was published today in the Manchester paper."

"Manchester, really?" Shira asked with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't want to have them published in London?"

Logan looked across at Rory, his eyes communicating all he needed to say. "No, mother. Steph is the editor of the paper up there and we wanted her to do this."

Shira pursed her lips, "Well, I would've thought you'd have preferred to have them published in a paper with wider circulation, that's all."

Logan rolled his eyes in his mother's direction, "She's put them online as well so I'm sure Rory will hear from some of the editors down here requesting to publish them."

Shira's eyes lit up, but she didn't say a word. Logan decided to take the opportunity to confront her about sending in the photos for the story that had been published the day before.

"You know, the photos from our wedding that they published yesterday were quite personal, quite candid. Editors would kill to get that kind of access, any idea where they got them from?"

Rory's eyes darted to Logan's, surprised by his question. She watched as Shira looked at Logan for a moment, and then wandered around the restaurant.

Mitchum cleared his throat at Logan's confrontation, but wasn't surprised. He raised his eyebrows at Shira, "Well, dear? I didn't want to ask, but it appears our son had the same thought."

Shira frowned a little, "Oh, fine. Yes, I did send them the pictures. And I would do it again, the photos are gorgeous. But I had nothing to do with the article, I was just as shocked by the headline as you were. Besides, Mitchum, it has made them decide to have a public image." She took in the frown on her husband's face before continuing, "Oh don't give me that look, you've been talking about it for months. This forced their hand."

Logan squeezed Rory's hand, silently communicating with her as Mitchum and Shira began raising their voices at one another. He stood up from the table, taking Rory's hand as she stood. "Thank for lunch, dad. We'll see you in a few days for Christmas lunch. Mother…we would prefer it if you stopped meddling in our lives. Don't bother coming for Christmas."

As Logan turned to walk away, Rory leant down and kissed Mitchum's cheek, more out of politeness than anything, and left. She clasped Logan's hand, "Well, now that that's out of the way, I believe that we need to purchase a few more decorations for our tree. Let's get a wriggle on, mister!"

Rory sat in an armchair, watching as Logan put the finishing touches on the tree. Drawing circles on either side of her belly, she softly sang along to the Christmas carols that were playing throughout their house. Logan placed the star on top, smiling at the image before him of his wife singing to their unborn daughters. She hadn't noticed him turn the lights on, so he walked over to her and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Look, Ace," he whispered to her, his head gesturing to the tree.

She looked up, her eyes glistening as she saw the finished tree. "Oh, Logan, it's beautiful! I love it!"

"Me too, babe. Just a few more things to make it perfect though," he smiled at her and handed her a white box with a pale pink ribbon tied around it. "Open it, Ace."

She slowly undid the ribbon and opened the box. She gasped as she took in what was inside, smiling as she pulled out two Jellycat Bashful Bunny's, one in light grey and one in white, followed by two Christmas baubles that were identically decorated in white and silver glitter, 'first Christmas' written on each of them. "You are far too perfect for me, Logan," she whispered as she placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him deeply, "Thank you."

"You're giving me the best gift ever, Rory. But I saw these and couldn't resist," he smiled at her and kissed her belly gently. "They are technically for the girls, but I knew that you would love them, too. And I've also put a second of each bunny up in storage, just in case one goes missing."

Rory looked at him in shock, "You really do think of everything, don't you?"

Logan kissed her on her lips, pulling away hesitantly as he heard Richard clearing his throat.

"Grandpa!" Rory called happily, "How was your day? Did you and grandma get everything done?"

"We did, Rory. Looks like the two of you did too, the tree looks magnificent."

"Thanks, grandpa, Logan did most of the work though."

"And we still have two decorations to put on the tree," Logan smiled at Rory, "Ace, I think that's your job babe."

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Emily and I will be down shortly, we thought we'd order dinner in, perhaps have one of those movie nights you are always speaking of."

"Sounds perfect, grandpa. Comfy clothes are required though, make sure grandma knows." Rory smiled as Richard walked up the stairs, the image of her grandparents in sweatpants making her laugh out loud.

"Care to share with the class, babe?"

"Oh, just thinking about my grandparents in sweatpants…something that I've never seen but now really want to!"

Logan laughed and helped Rory stand up. They walked over to their Christmas tree, placing the glass baubles right at the front of the tree.

An hour later, Rory, Logan, Emily, and Richard were settled in the snug, Italian takeaway on the coffee table in front of them. Rory had insisted that they sit in the cosy room and ate in front of the tv. She had picked a variety of Christmas movies while Logan lit the fire, and Emily and Richard had joined them, surprisingly in their pyjamas. As Emily sorted the food out on the table, Logan put The Polar Express on, and the four of them settled in to watch the movie.

Once the movie finished, Logan got up to change it, and at Rory's request put The Santa Claus on. It was during this time that Emily asked where Finn, Rosemary, Colin, and Steph were.

"They went up to Manchester for the night, grandma. Finn and Rosie haven't seen Colin and Steph's place yet, and they thought it'd be nice for us to have a night together."

"That's very thoughtful of them. I am glad though, Richard and I have something we want to talk to the two of you about."

Logan sat down next to Rory, pressing pause on the DVD with the remote.

Richard moved forward on the couch, "Well, Rory, Logan, we wanted to talk to you about a few things, actually. First of all, Rory, your trust fund. It's not supposed to be available to you for another 2 years, however, your grandmother and I have decided for you to have access immediately."

Rory looked at her grandparents, shock playing across her face, however, Emily began talking before she had a chance, "Now Rory, we know you don't necessarily need it. However, we feel that you are more than capable of managing it."

"Wow. Ok. Thank you." Rory was unable to form complete sentences, but hoped that her grandparents would understand.

"Now, we have two other things to discuss before we get back to our movie night," Richard began. "First of all, we have decided to set up trusts for both of your daughters. This will also be extended to other children you may have, and has been written into our will, just in case. And secondly, Trix has left a quite sizeable property to the family. It is on 6 acres, up in the Peak District. Now, the property is grade II listed, so any renovations will need to be in keeping with the style. It is a rather grand property, but I'm sure you're more than capable of making it into a beautiful country home."

"Oh, grandpa! Grandma! This is too much!"

"No, it's not, Rory. We only have one grandchild, and it is our prerogative to give you the world." Emily smiled across at Rory, "And we plan to spoil our great-grandchildren, too."

"Well, thank you Emily and Richard. We more than appreciate it. And a country home is exactly what I think we need. Thank you very much." Logan got up and shook Richard's hand before pulling Emily into a hug.

"Well, now that we've taken care of all of that, I think it's back to the movie," Emily said with a grin on her face. "Shall I get dessert before you press play, Logan?"


	32. we found wonderland

Christmas Eve, and Rory and Logan found themselves alone in front of the fire. They had had a beautiful night; Logan and Steph had cooked an Italian feast before they had settled in to watch Carols by Candlelight. Slowly, everyone had made their way to bed, leaving Logan and Rory to have some time together before Christmas Day.

Rory was laying on the couch, her head resting in Logan's lap. With his feet propped up on the coffee table, he had one of Rory's hands in his, while his other hand was resting on her belly. They had been sitting in silence for a short time, both watching the flames from the open fire.

"It's our last Christmas alone," Rory said softly, "This time next year we'll have almost one year olds."

Logan smiled down at her as he squeezed her hand, "I can't wait," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "It's going to be the most incredible year."

"Are you nervous?" she asked.

"I'm nervous about the birth, and I'm nervous about doing something horribly wrong. But I'm not nervous about becoming a family."

"I'm nervous about having them, too. But we're going to be great parents together, babe. Just…promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Promise me that if I am a friend to our daughters before I am their mother that you'll call me out on it?"

"Only if you promise me that you'll kick my ass if I work too much."

"Deal," she whispered as she leant up and kissed his lips gently. "Now, Mr Huntzberger, I do believe that it's after midnight. First things first, Happy Christmas, darling."

"Happy Christmas, Ace," he whispered, kissing her deeply.

She slowly stood up, ignoring his protests, and retrieved two gift bags from behind the couch. She walked back over to him and sat down. "These are just something little from the girls to wish you a Merry Christmas." She handed him one of the bags and kissed his cheek softly.

He opened the bag, and pulled out two wrapped items. He opened the first, a book called 'Little London: Child-friendly days out and things to do'. He flicked through it, noting that Rory had placed small post its on some of the pages, with little comments about the activity. "Babe, this is great. Thank you." he leant over and kissed her before turning to the other gift. He unwrapped it quickly, knowing that it was going to be another book. He smiled and had a few tears forming in his eyes as he read the title 'Life Lessons for Dad: Tea parties, tutus and all things pink'. He opened the cover and looked at a few pages, noting that it was a collection of different images with advice about raising daughters at the bottom of each page. The first page looked different though, and it wasn't until he looked at Rory's belly that he realised the ultrasound image was of their daughters. Underneath, in Rory's perfectly formed handwriting, it said "Love us unconditionally, and we will love you right back. As we get older it may not seem like we do all the time, but we promise that we do."

"Ace…this is incredible. I love you."

"I'm glad you like it, sweetie. I saw it and knew it was perfect. Now, open this one!" she smiled as she handed him the other bag.

He opened the bag and pulled out a photo frame that held three pictures. The first one was of one of their twins, the second of the other, and the third was of Rory and Logan.

"Oh wow," he whispered as his fingers ran over the ultrasound images, "just…wow."

"Do you like it?"

"Like it?" he asked. "I love it. It's perfect, Ace! And I know exactly where it's going."

"I'm so glad, babe. Where are you going to put it?"

"At the office, to the side of my desk." He leant forward and kissed her on the lips. After a few moments, he stood up, placing his hand out to help Rory up. "Come on, babe, bedtime. Big day tomorrow!"

—

Christmas morning passed by in a flurry of excitement. After a rather large breakfast spread, everyone gathered around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts. Given the number of people that were there, this took quite a few hours. Amongst all of the gifts, Finn surprised Rory the most. He had purchased Rory and Logan a series of books called "The Weekend Starts Here" and featured a variety of European cities. He had even gone to the effort of making notes on which experiences were child friendly, and had created voucher-like slips of paper promising babysitting for the adult only activities.

By midday, all of the gifts had been given, and Finn and Colin cleaned up all of the wrapping paper. Logan and Rory had organised a simple lunch for everyone, as their main celebration was taking place that night. By 2 pm, everyone dispersed to get ready for Christmas dinner. Rory had wanted to celebrate at home, so Emily had insisted on having it catered so that "no-one has to bother about cooking". As much as she hadn't wanted to agree with her grandmother, the fact that she was able to have a nap between their Christmas festivities had finally convinced Rory that Emily had in fact been smart in hiring caterers.

A few hours later, Honor, Josh, Rosemary, Finn, Colin, and Steph slowly made their way downstairs. They had all decided to dress more formally than they had been lately, making their first Christmas as a family a rather special occasion. Logan and Richard made their way downstairs as Mitchum arrived, almost immediately followed by the arrival of Paris and Doyle.

"Rory will be thrilled to see you, Paris," Logan smiled as he took Paris' coat and hung it in the hall closet.

"So you didn't spill the beans then, Huntzberger? I'm impressed."

Logan rolled his eyes, "No, Paris. Doyle, how are you?"

"Good, Logan, thanks. Nice place you have here."

The trio continued their conversation as they walked into the living room where everyone was gathered. Richard had busied himself getting drinks for everyone, giving Logan the opportunity to head back upstairs to find Rory.

Upstairs, Rory found herself wandering into her grandparents' room, and sat down on the bed while Emily put her earrings on.

"Grandma?"

"Hmmm?" Emily responded, her eyes locking on Rory in the mirror.

"What if I can't do this without mum?" Rory's eyes looked down at her hands, a sad look crossing her face.

"Oh, Rory," Emily began as she moved and sat next to her granddaughter on the bed. "You are going to be a spectacular mother."

"But how do you know that, grandma? I thought mum was the best mother in the world, but look what she's done. What if I end up like that?"

Emily put an arm around Rory's back. "Lorelai Leigh Huntzberger, do you really think that you would do such a thing? You are the most wonderful woman I have ever met, and you will be equally impressive as a mother. Don't for one second doubt yourself on that. Besides, you are a Gilmore, a Hayden, _and_ a Huntzberger. You and Logan are so supportive of one another, which I believe will continue into parenthood."

Rory felt tears run down her face. "I'm scared, grandma. I always thought mum would be here for this."

"Oh darling, I know. But you will be marvellous. I know your mother has put fear into you about birth, but it's honestly not that terrible. And you are so strong, I think you'll get through it perfectly. Besides, your grandfather and I will be here whenever you need us, you just need to ask."

"Thanks, grandma." Rory smiled.

Logan leant against the doorway, having caught the end of the conversation. He cleared his throat, and Emily stood up and gave him a hug.

"I'm going to go downstairs, you two come down when you're ready." she smiled at Rory and Logan before leaving the room.

"You ok, Ace?" Logan asked as she walked over to him.

"I am now, just needed an Emily Gilmore pep talk," she smiled at him, "You are looking very handsome tonight," she whispered as her fingers played with the lapels on his suit jacket.

"And you look stunning, which you always do," he smiled as he kissed her softly. "I hope you're ready for Finn and Colin to comment."

Rory blushed a little and ran her hands down the front of her dress, a long and fitted black dress with a deep v-neck. "Honestly, I'm surprised this fits. I feel like I've doubled in size over the past 2 weeks."

"Don't be silly, babe. You look perfect. Shall we?"

Smiling at him, Rory took Logan's hand, and together they made their way downstairs.

The family gathered in the dining room, a silence falling over the group. Logan looked around and smiled, before clearing his throat. "Thank you for coming, everyone. Rory and I are so thankful that you are all with us to celebrate Christmas, it means the world to us. Happy Christmas!"

"Happy Christmas!" echoed around the table, and a few minutes later dinner was served. The conversation around the table was happy and filled with laughter as everyone enjoyed one another's company. Logan was sure that something was going to go wrong, but was pleasantly surprised when the night continued without any issues.

Logan noticed Rory stifling a yawn as the dessert plates were cleared, and quietly asked her if she wanted to go to bed.

"Your daughters make me exhausted, bed sounds great," she whispered.

"Where are you two dazzling creatures off to?" Finn questioned as Rory and Logan stood up from the table.

"Bed," Logan announced with a smirk, "The babies and Rory need their beauty sleep."

"Pretty sure bed is what caused the tiredness to happen in the first place," Colin murmured under his breath. Rory giggled as Steph jokingly hit Colin's arm.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," Rory whispered in Logan's ear.

They walked upstairs, leaving their family to continue their Christmas celebrations. Logan unzipped Rory's dress, and when it pooled at her feet he picked it up and hung it in their wardrobe. She dressed in her pyjamas and took her makeup off before crawling into bed. Logan slipped in beside her, letting her curl into him and rest her head on his chest. With one hand behind her head and twirling her hair, the other found its way onto her belly where he could feel his daughters kicking against his hand.


	33. baby i know

A/N - Bit of a shorter chapter for you this evening, but wanted to get it out. Will have another one posted in the next day or so. Thank you, everyone, for your wonderful reviews, I thoroughly appreciate each and every one of them. Just a heads up, I have no plans to end this story anytime soon. I write as a way to help with anxiety, and have found it works extremely well! Not sure if the story will keep going or will become a collection of one-shots, but I'm leaning towards just continuing it as is. Enjoy xxx

"Babe, come on!" Rory called up the stairs to her husband, "We're going to be late!"

Logan jogged down the stairs, sliding his arms into his jacket. "Did you forget something?" he smirked at her, holding her coat out.

"Just knew you'd bring it down," she smiled at him as she put it on over the fitted black jumper she was wearing. "Do you think you could help me with my boots?"

"Of course, babe. Sit down." He slid her boots onto her feet, tucking her jeans in as she liked, and zipped them up. "Alright, let's go. We don't want to keep Dr Alice waiting, do we?"

They walked out to the car together and Logan drove them to their obstetrician's office.

"Did Finn tell you when they were heading back over?" Rory asked, glancing across at Logan.

"They're aiming for the 20th of February. They must have a lot of stuff to pack."

"Not everyone is as effective as we are, you know that," Rory giggled in response. "They left on the 5th of January, babe. It's the 9th now, it only gives them 6 weeks to pack everything up. We were effectively already packed, remember?"

"I know, it just feels so quiet at home now that everyone's gone back to their lives."

"It won't be quiet for that much longer, sweetie. Babies, remember?" Rory rolled her eyes as she placed a hand on her bump. "It will be extremely loud soon."

Arriving at the doctor's office, they waited a few minutes before Alice called them in. They spent a few minutes talking about their Christmas celebrations, before Alice instructed Rory to lay down for the ultrasound.

"Everything looks great," Alice commented as she moved around, "Both babies are in excellent positions, just where we want them actually. Now, baby a is still a little bigger than baby b, which we knew would be the case." The ultrasound continued, and as usual, Alice printed them off multiple images.

"Do you think they'll stay in for a little while longer, Alice?" Logan queried after Rory had wiped the gel off her stomach.

"I think we have at least another 4 weeks before they make an appearance," Alice smiled, "But you need to take it easy, Rory. Lots of naps, low stress, you know the drill."

"And what about baby b? You said she was a bit smaller…" Rory commented, concern etched on her face.

"Perfectly normal, I promise. I would love for her to grow a little more, which she will. But just be prepared…if they arrive within the next 4 weeks, she may need a little help from special care for a week or so." Alice rubbed Rory's back reassuringly, "But honestly, Rory, both babies are going to be perfect. Let's focus on keeping them happy and healthy for the next few weeks, ok?"

"And you still think I'll be able to have them naturally?" Rory asked as she glanced across at Logan.

"As long as everything keeps going as it is, I think you'll be fine. I don't think the babies will turn at this point, but we'll keep an eye on it. Just don't get disheartened if it doesn't happen, 'kay?" Alice smiled at the couple. "So we'll do weekly appointments for the rest of your pregnancy, shall we say the same time next week?"

"Thanks, Alice," Logan stood up and helped Rory into her coat. "See you next week."

"So, I'll drop you home and then head to the office. I'll be home by 5, 530 at the absolute latest."

"No need to drop me home, babe. I need to go into the office today, too." Rory smiled at Logan, silently hoping that her smile would be enough to convince him not to worry.

"Ace…" he began, "Just let me know what you need, I'll bring it home for you. Please?"

"Logan, it'll be fine. I promise. Your office is not even 10 metres away. In fact, you can see me sitting at my desk from your desk. Besides, it's already midday. It's only for 5 hours."

Logan sighed, "Alright. But we're leaving at 4. And if anything feels odd, we are out the door and heading home. Deal?"

"Deal," Rory smirked at him as he shook his head and drove them into the HPG offices.

"Good morning, Mr Huntzberger. Mrs Huntzberger, it's so good to see you!" Nancy greeted Logan and Rory as they stepped out of the elevator at the office.

"It's lovely to see you too, Nancy. Did you have a nice Christmas?" Rory asked as she walked through the landing to her office.

"It was wonderful, thank you. How are you going?"

"Excellent, the babies are still at least 4 weeks away. It is getting a little uncomfortable though."

"Well, you look amazing! I'll leave you to it, Mrs Huntzberger."

"Nancy, do you think you could forward me this afternoon's head of department meeting agenda and the schedule for the next month?" Rory asked as she stepped through the doorway into her office.

"Of course, you'll have it in a few minutes. Let me know if you need anything."

Logan had overheard the exchange between Rory and their assistant, and followed Rory into her office. "Meetings, Ace? Really?"

Rory turned around to face him, "Meeting, singular. I'm here, so I should attend. As for the rest of the month, I just want to keep an eye on what's going on." She smiled at him, "You know that's the plan, babe."

Logan sighed, "I know, Ror. I just worry, that's all. I don't want you to feel overwhelmed."

"I promise I won't. If it gets too much, I'll let you know. And don't worry, I'm not going to do anything crazy like build a nursery in here. Part-time, work from home. We'll be fine," she walked over to him and kissed him gently, "Now, are you going to let me do some work so that we can leave at 4?"


	34. king of my heart

At 4:05 pm, Logan found himself impatiently tapping his pen on the boardroom table, wishing the department head meeting would end. His eyes flitted to Rory, who was stifling a yawn. Frowning, he poured her a glass of water, wishing that the HR manager, Ben, would wind up his briefing on the updated employee handbook.

"Thanks, Ben," Logan began as soon as Ben had finished speaking, "If no-one else has any other pressing matters, I think we should leave it there. Thanks for a great catch up, guys, go home and enjoy your night!"

Rory waited until the majority of the staff had left the room before rolling her eyes at her husband, "You looked as though you were going to combust, babe."

"Who's combusting?" Ben asked as he gathered up his things.

"Logan, he's worried because it's 10 minutes past when he wanted to leave today," Rory smirked.

"Only because you need to be at home resting before these girls arrive," Logan said with a smile, "which is exactly where we are going now."

"Have a few minutes to touch base on a few things before you take off?" Ben inquired, directing the conversation to both Logan and Rory.

"Course, mate. Let's head up to Rory's office, it's a little tidier than mine."

An hour later, Rory and Logan were finally on their way home. Although the drive from the office to their home was less than 10 minutes, Rory found herself yawning and having to concentrate on keeping her eyes open.

"Why do we keep having issues with harassment here, babe?" Rory asked Logan quietly, referencing the conversation they had had with Ben a few minutes before, "It seems never-ending."

Logan sighed and shook his head slightly, "I don't know, it's fairly normal though."

"I know, it's just getting to be a bit of a joke. And she has only been in the position for a few months! We all liked her when we interviewed her for the marketing manager position…"

"Yep, totally agree," Logan glanced over at Rory while he waited for the traffic to keep moving, "but let's leave it with Ben. He'll take care of the legal and HR side of things for the termination, and I'll take great pleasure in delivering the news to her. Sound good?"

"Yeah, but I just…" Rory began.

"Nope, no buts. Now, tell me what my daughters feel like for dinner and let's make it happen. I can make a chicken and leek pot pie at home, or would you like something else?"

Rory rolled her eyes at Logan's quick change of subject, "Babies think pie sounds great, sweetie."

—

The next morning, Logan woke to an empty bed. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table which said 5:30. He frowned as he got out of bed, surprised that Rory was already awake and out of bed. He wandered downstairs and switched the coffee machine on, calling out to Rory. He heard her call back to him and shook his head when he realised she was in their office.

"Ace," he said as he walked into the room, "It's not even 6 am yet. What are you doing?"

"Working," she said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk playing on her lips.

"Who's the work dork now?"

"Work dork lover!" Rory laughed.

"Come on, little scab-nose. There's breakfast waiting for you in the kitchen."

"5 minutes?"

"There's bagels…"

"Ohh babies want bagels! I'll be 1 minute, one more sentence to write."

"Uh huh. See you in 5, babe!" Logan called as he walked back to the kitchen.

Rory laughed as Logan walked out of the room, and quickly finished her email. Two minutes later, she was stood in the kitchen, watching as Logan finished making breakfast. "Two minutes, Huntzberger. And you thought 5. You're losing your touch." She smiled as she sat down at the bench.

"So all I needed to do was get you pregnant, then you'd be on time?" he joked as he placed a coffee and blueberry bagel in front of Rory.

"Either that or make me a Huntzberger."

"Or both," he kissed her gently as he brought his own breakfast around and sat next to her at the bench. "Much planned today, babe?"

"Just a bit of work, perhaps a nap. You?"

"A few meetings, but I want to take you somewhere this morning. Feel up to it?"

"A surprise?"

"A surprise," he said definitively.

"I don't know how to dress for a surprise, Logan."

"Something comfortable, Ace. It's nothing formal. But we need to leave in 10 minutes."

"You're kidding, aren't you?"

"Nope, completely serious."

"But…I need time to get ready!"

"You just need to get dressed, babe. Your hair's fine, you don't need makeup. Honestly, even sweats will be fine."

"Sweats?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. "Since when have you ever gone anywhere where sweatpants are acceptable attire?"

"There's a first for everything. Now, go! Get dressed!"

A few minutes later Rory came downstairs to find Logan waiting for her.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" he asked her, smiling.

"I feel ridiculous. I'm in sweatpants and you're in a suit!"

"Don't be silly!" Logan held up Rory's coat and she shrugged it on.

"Are you going to tell me what my surprise is yet?"

"It wouldn't be a surprise then, would it? Now let's go!"

Rory continued to question Logan about what he had planned, but to no avail. It wasn't long before Logan pulled into a car park and got out to open Rory's door. Taking her hand, he led her around the corner and to the front of Ushvani spa.

"Alright, Ace," he began, "I know you've been feeling a bit exhausted lately, so I thought you'd enjoy a nice long massage and a facial." He watched as she took in what he was saying, and unsure of her reaction, kept talking. "I did some research and they seem to be the best for pregnancy massage, they have a plunge pool which you can use for the hour before your massage, I've packed your swimmers in here just in case you wanted to float for a little bit. And they have a tea and relaxation room as well…"

Logan found himself being interrupted by Rory's lips crashing onto his.

"Thank you," she whispered, her hands on either side of his head, "I love you."


	35. your sweet smile

Sitting in his office, Logan propped his feet up on the corner of his desk. He had been on a conference call with Mitchum for the last 30 minutes, and was ready to go home.

"I couldn't find a connection between your marketing manager and Shira, Logan. I think you might be overreacting," Mitchum said calmly.

Logan rolled his eyes, less effective than he would have liked considering Mitchum couldn't see him do it. "I don't think I am, dad. If not Shira, what about Lorelai?"

"Logan, I promise you. No connection between either of them," Mitchum tried to assure him.

Logan picked a pen up off of his desk and began twirling it in his fingers before tapping it on the desk. "There has to be something, can you keep looking into it please?"

"Of course," Mitchum sighed, "How's Rory going? Any news on my granddaughters arriving soon?"

"Rory's good, absolutely exhausted, but good. She's on a cleaning spree this week, which Honor assures me is normal. But the girls are about 2 weeks away, we had a checkup yesterday and it's looking good."

"That's great, son. Keep me updated? I'm hoping to come out there in 3 weeks. How would you feel about me overseeing the office while you have some time off with your family?"

"Umm…" Logan tried to respond, but couldn't find any words to convey what he wanted to say.

"You don't need to say anything, Logan. But as long as you're ok with it then I'd love to be able t help out."

"That would be incredible, honestly. Ben from HR is going to run things from the end of next week, but he can only really do people management. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not. I'm planning on heading over for 8 weeks. Will that be enough time?"

Logan could feel his eyes watering, "Amazing…absolutely amazing."

"Ace?" Logan called as he locked the front door behind him an hour later.

"In here, sweetie," Rory called from the kitchen.

Logan chuckled to himself as he placed his briefcase in the office and wandered through to the kitchen. He kissed her softly on the lips before asking how her day had been.

"Good, babe. I reorganised the kitchen cupboards and pantry, and was then inspired to cook dinner! Grandma gave me some cookbooks while she was here so I thought I'd give it a shot."

Logan looked around the kitchen, "You cooked all of this? You're supposed to be taking it easy, Ace."

"I know, but it didn't take that long. I really felt like banana bread, but I also had a craving for chocolate mud cake, and then I figured I may as well cook dinner, so there's a roast chicken in the oven that will be ready in about 40 minutes."

Logan shook his head and laughed as he kicked his shoes off and placed his jacket on one of the chairs. "I had an interesting conversation with my dad today," he smiled at her as he took a chair around to her side of the kitchen bench.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, he's coming over here in about 3 weeks and is going to oversee the office for us for 8 weeks. What do you think?"

"That's incredible, babe. Honestly, it'll be so nice to have you home with me and the twins. How did that even come up in conversation?"

Logan smiled at her and poured her a glass of water. "Well, we were in our normal conference call, no connection with either of our mothers by the way, and he just sort of blurted it out at the end."

"I really thought there would be. Is he going to keep looking into it?"

"He is. But back to what we were talking about. Are you happy for him to do that?"

"Of course I am, Logan! I think it makes sense. Besides, I was thinking today that it'd be nice to visit the house up in the Peak District once we have a bit of a routine sorted. I'd really love to see the house up there."

"I wanted to talk to you about that, Ace. I'll be back in one minute." Logan smirked as he walked down to the office. Rory watched as he walked back up the hall and into the kitchen, a rather thick file in his hands. "If you hate it, tell me and we can change it," he whispered as he passed the file across to her.

Rory slowly opened the file and took in what she was seeing. A smile broke out across her face as she realised he had compiled pictures of the house Trix had left, but had then placed ideas for renovations next to each picture.

"This is beautiful, babe, but what do you mean we can change it? They're just pictures…"

Logan looked at her, his eyes piercing into hers. "Well, I thought you'd want to visit as soon as possible, so I organised the renovations. And they're finished. Colin went and took the photos yesterday."

"But…how? I mean, it's amazing! But how did you do this?"

Logan walked around the bench and wrapped his arm around his wife, "I roughly knew what you had planned for the house and ran with that. Kept it mostly the same, just freshened it up a little."

"I love you, you know that, right?"

"I love you too, Ace," he whispered as he kissed her lips softly.

As they climbed into bed later that night, Rory winced as she felt another Braxton Hicks contraction. She gently rubbed the side of her belly as the pain slowly disappeared.

"Everything alright, babe?" Logan asked with concern.

"Yep, just a little twinge." Swinging her legs over, she rolled onto her left side to face Logan, and kissed him gently, "All gone now."

"Are you sure? We can go into the hospital to get it checked if you need."

"I'm sure, babe. Promise."

He kissed her back gently, and placed a hand on her belly so that he could feel his daughters moving around. After a few minutes he felt himself falling asleep, but was interrupted by Rory grabbing his upper arm.

"Logan, we need to go to the hospital, now!"


	36. i didn't know

It had been a week since Logan had rushed Rory to the hospital, a week since he had needed to be calm and composed even when he was feeling anything but. Alice, their obstetrician, had arrived at the hospital minutes after they had and managed to stop the early labour that Rory had been in. At 37 weeks, the twins would be perfectly healthy if they arrived, but would need assistance breathing. So Rory was put on bed rest and was given steroid injections to ensure their lungs were developed.

And that is why Logan found himself sitting alone in the coffee shop in the lobby of the hospital, on the phone to his sister.  
"So after a week of doing nothing but laying in a hospital bed, she cracked it. I don't know what to do, Honor…" It was at this point that he finally caved and let the tears flow. "…she's so unhappy in there. How can I help her?"  
"Oh, baby brother, I know it's hard. Let's talk about you first, then we'll get to how you can help my beautiful sister-in-law. Have you been there with her the whole time?"  
"Yep, I left for an hour on the second day to grab some things, but other than that I've been here."  
"Well, I'm definitely not recommending that you leave her there alone, besides I know you'd ignore that suggestion. But you need some support, Logan. Has Colin come down to visit?"  
"He's been too busy to leave work this week. He mentioned something about coming down this weekend, but he wasn't 100%."  
"Ok, well, I'll give him a call and he and Steph will definitely be there for the weekend. What's happening with work at the moment?"  
"Ben's managing at the moment, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried. He does seem to have it under control though. Just need to sort something out to cover Rory's role until dad makes it over."  
"What about Steph, Logan? Can you transfer her to London for a few weeks?"  
Logan took a few seconds to think about his sister's suggestion, "Do you think she'd do it?"  
"Of course she will! You know she will! Now that that's sorted, let's talk about Rory. Have you brought her in some things from home? What about visitors?"  
Yeah, a few things to make her more comfortable. And a few people have stopped by, but only from work."  
"I'm surprised Emily hasn't shown up yet."  
"I spoke to her a few days ago, she doesn't want Rory to feel overwhelmed having to entertain guests. Apparently Rory spoke to them about coming over once the babies are a few weeks old."  
"Oh, Logan, that's ludicrous! Get on the phone with her now and tell her to come. You and Rory are incredible together, but honestly, you're having twins! You are going to need some support. Do you want me to come over there?"  
Logan could feel his eyes welling up with tears yet again. "Would you mind?" he asked her quietly.  
"Of course not, you know that. Josh won't get the leave approved at the moment, but I'll book the next flight out. And how about I call Emily and let her know what's going on over there?"  
"Thanks, Honor. Really, thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."  
"Probably have a heart of stone like Shira. Now, you go and be with Rory. I'll text you the details once they're sorted. Love you."  
"You're a life saver, Hon. Love you, too."

As he walked back into Rory's room, he felt a wave of calmness fall over him. I _t's all going to be fine,_ he thought to himself, _everything's going to be ok._

He found Rory chatting on the phone, her red, puffy eyes a dead giveaway that she had been crying. She smiled at him as he sat in the armchair next to the bed, taking the phone away from her ear and placing it on speaker.  
"Steph, Logan just walked in. Are you going to say yes?"  
Logan raised an eyebrow at her, intrigued as to what the girls had been discussing.  
"Of course I am, Ror. Anything to help the two of you out. When do you want us to come down?"  
"On the weekend, perhaps? I'm sure you could use a few days to explain the day to day running to your assistant, just remind her that you'll be available for whatever she needs. All I need you to do is oversee the creative managers in the London office for a week or so, until Mitchum arrives. Are you sure you don't mind?"  
"It's going to be brilliant! Besides, it means we can come and hang out with you guys and keep you company while we wait for these babies. What do you think, Logan?"  
"I think Honor and I just had the same idea. I was going to give you a call and see if you'd be able to help out for a bit. Honestly, thanks for doing this, Steph."  
"Anytime, Huntzberger. I've gotta run, need to call Colin before my meeting. I'll talk to you both tomorrow!"

"Are you sure it's ok, babe? I wanted to run it by you first, but we were chatting and it just came up."  
"It's perfect, Ace. Really." he reached over to her and squeezed her hand, before relaying the conversation he'd had with Honor about their family coming over.  
"Won't they be bored just sitting around here though? Surely they have better things to do than spend their days at the hospital."  
"They love you, Ace. All of them…they'd do anything to make sure you were taken care of. Honor's going to organise flights and accommodation, so you won't need to worry about the house being absolutely perfect while they're here."  
Rory took a deep breath in and released it slowly. "Thank you," she whispered quietly to her husband, "I love you."  
"I love you too, babe." He stood up and laid next to her on the bed. "Why don't you have a rest for a little bit, and when you wake up we'll order takeaway for dinner. Sound good?"  
"Sounds brilliant."

A few hours later, while Rory and Logan were enjoying their Thai takeaway, Logan's phone rang. He answered the call, immediately greeted by Finn yelling at him for not telling him that he was needed in London.  
"Listen, mate, I know we aren't biological brothers, but we are as good as. Where do you get off not telling me that Rory needed us? That you needed us? It's not good enough, Huntz."  
Logan chuckled to himself, and placed the phone on speaker. He opened his mouth to respond, but Rory got there first.  
"Finn, darling, I'm sorry we didn't call. I didn't really let Logan know how I was feeling until today, otherwise, you would've been the first call, I promise."  
"I don't want you to feel bad, love, we just wanted to be there for you both."  
"Sorry mate," Logan said with a smile, "But I also know that you and Rosemary are a bit busy planning the move, I just didn't want to be a burden."  
"A burden? Thick as a brick, you are. Anyway, that doesn't matter now. We're on our way to the airport."  
"You're what?" Rory spluttered.  
"Heading to the airport, love. Honor called to let me know that you needed some company, so we are on our way."  
"Define 'we'," Logan mumbled.  
"Well, let's see. There's me and Rosie, Honor, Richard, and Emily." Under his breath, Finn added, "Emily's not exactly ecstatic with either of you at the mo'. She feels that you lied to her. Just thought I'd give you the heads up." Finn's voice went back to its usual level as he continued, "We're using the HPG jet and will be there tomorrow morning. See you then!" And with that, he disconnected the call.  
"Well," Rory began.  
"Well," Logan repeated.  
"I guess they're all coming to stay."  
Logan looked up at Rory, expecting to see a defeated expression on her face. He smiled when he saw that he face was the happiest he had seen it in the entire week they'd been in the hospital.  
"Geez, Ace, I would've called them days ago if I knew it would make you this happy. I thought you didn't want visitors when the girls were born?"  
"I didn't, babe. But I think this is going to be perfect!"

 _I know a lot of you were hoping that the babies would be born this chapter, but I promise they'll be born really, really soon. I really wanted this chapter to show just how much their close family and friends support them, and how much they do care._

 _As always, let me know what you think xxx_


	37. when i look into your eyes

"Lorelai Leigh Huntzberger, why on earth did you not tell me how you were feeling?" Emily had begun with a rather loud voice, but ended by sitting on Rory's bed and placing a hand on Rory's arm. "I've been so worried since Honor's call, what's the matter, darling?"  
"Oh grandma," Rory sniffled, "Nothing's really wrong, I've just been worried about the babies, and work, and just feeling defeated laying in this bed."  
"That's a lot for one person to be feeling all at once, Rory." Emily raised an eyebrow at Logan, who took the hint and suggested that he and Richard head out to the shop to pick up some more of Rory's favourite tea.  
"I guess I didn't realise how lonely it would be, not having anyone else here when the babes arrive," Rory smiled sadly at her grandmother.  
"Well, no need to worry about that now, we have all decided that we will be staying in London for at least the next month, if not longer. And you definitely do not need to worry about entertaining us, as you put it so eloquently over Christmas. Your grandfather and I have found a lovely apartment to rent around the corner from your house, and I believe Honor is going to make herself comfortable in your guest suite for the time being."  
As Emily paused, Rory began interrupting her. "No, no, no, Rory. It's already been organised. We are all here to help you in any way we can. And if that means you want us to leave you alone for a few days, hours, whatever, you just say the word. God knows I told Trix to butt out when your mother was born."  
Rory laughed at her grandmother's comment, imagining the refined Emily Gilmore telling Lorelai Gilmore I to stop interfering with her new baby. Ok, Grandma," Rory acquiesced. "Thank you."  
"You are more than welcome, darling, but there's really no need to thank me. You're our granddaughter, and we love you very much. Now, tell me what's going on with my beautiful great-grandbabies."

As the day wore on, the number of visitors increased. Soon after Richard and Logan returned with Rory's preferred tea and a rather large bunch of flowers, Honor arrived and spent an hour in tears with Rory and Logan, before immediately admonishing Rory for not telling her the truth during their lengthy phone and email conversations over the past week.  
Honor was interrupted by the arrival of Finn and Rosemary, giggling as Finn announced he had seen Rory in bed more over the past 9 months than he had any other one girl.  
Rosemary rolled her eyes, and greeted her friends happily.  
"Rosie, shouldn't you be at home, packing?" Rory asked with a happy but confused look on her face.  
"Well, we decided to just move now. We were only another 2 weeks away from the move, so we've hired packers to finalise everything and ship it over here."  
"That's right, my loves, we are officially Londoner's now!" Finn yelled happily.

Not long after Finn's excited outburst, Alice walked in, smiling at the family gathered in the room. "Well, Rory, Logan, I'm glad to see you have your family here finally.  
"More to come, too, Alice." Rory said with a smile at her doctor, "I hope you don't mind."  
"Not at all, birth should be celebrated. And I told you, you can't do twins on your own! Now, I am going to need to ask everyone to leave for about 30 minutes so that we can make some decisions about these babies."  
Richard took charge and shuffled everyone out, announcing that they would organise a special dinner for everyone, "Take away, of course, Rory, we don't want you missing out."  
Alice shut the door to Rory's room once they had all left, and sat down on a chair next to Logan, facing Rory.  
"Alright, guys. I'm happy with how both babies are going. The test results from yesterday have come back perfect, so I think we need to have a discussion about stopping the drugs that are holding your labour off and letting your body do its thing. What do you think?"  
Rory let out a long breath, "I think that sounds brilliant. Logan?"  
"I agree, as long as you think it's safe, Alice."  
"I wouldn't be recommending it if it wasn't safe. Normally we would advise you to head home and wait for labour to start, but given that you're having twins, I think it's best that you stay here. Off of bed rest, yes, but you would need to stay on the hospital grounds. How does that sound?"  
"Amazing," Rory said, honestly. "Do you think it'll happen naturally or will you need to induce me?"  
"Hopefully naturally, Rory. We won't rule out induction, but I think you'll be meeting your daughters within the next 48 hours."  
"Wow, that quickly?" Logan asked, a look of shock running across his face.  
"Don't go soft on me now, Huntzberger," Rory smirked.  
"It'll be fine, Logan," Alice smiled, "I am on call this week, so I'll be here until 6 am, and then back at 6 pm. If anything happens while I am at home, the midwives will call me and I'll be here within 10 minutes. I promised you both that I would be here the whole time, and I intend to honour that promise. Let's get that IV disconnected so that you can enjoy a lovely dinner with your family. If you'd like, I can organise for you to use one of the conference rooms so that you'll all be able to sit and eat comfortably?"  
"Thank you, Alice, that would be wonderful," Rory smiled at her doctor, glad to have found someone who went above and beyond.

It was 5 am when Rory woke up with a strong tightening feeling across her middle. She knew that this was it, no more false contractions, she was definitely in labour. She kissed Logan's lips, knowing that it was an easy way to wake him up, and smiled at him as he slowly opened his eyes.  
"Morning, Ace," he said with a smile.  
"Morning, gorgeous. Do you think you're ready to meet your daughters?"  
"What?" Logan said loudly as he quickly sat up, "Are you…?"  
"Calm down, sweetie. Yes, I am in labour. Yes, these contractions are only about 2 minutes apart. And yes, I would really appreciate it if you pressed the call button for a nurse."

It had been 4 hours since Rory had woken Logan up, 4 hours since her labour had started. She had been given an epidural an hour ago, and according to Alice was ready to push. Rory had requested that her grandma be in the room with her and Logan during the birth, with the others more than happy to wait outside. Emily had been overcome with tears when Rory had told her, and had embraced Logan warmly. She stood up by Rory's head, supporting when necessary but otherwise just delighted to be included in such a beautiful moment.

Rory had only been pushing for 10 minutes when Alice announced that baby a was ready to come out, and with words of encouragement from Logan, Rory gritted her teeth and delivered their first daughter. As discussed with Alice previously, Rory had planned to have immediate skin to skin contact. It had been unknown as to whether this would be achievable given baby b's position, but Rory had tears of joy as her daughter was placed onto her chest. A few minutes went past before Alice smiled at Rory that baby b was ready. Logan cut the umbilical cord and assisted the midwife in wrapping the baby in a blanket, giving her a kiss on the forehead before passing the baby to Emily. They had known that it may take a little longer for baby b to be born, but after 15 minutes of Rory pushing with all her might, baby b arrived safely. Rory was prepared this time, and after quickly asking Alice if it was ok, she reached down and picked the baby up from between her legs, taking her from Alice's hands and bringing her up to her chest. Emily watched in marvel at her granddaughter, amazed at how much she had grown as a young woman. She smiled at Logan, and passed baby a back to him, excusing herself from the room to leave the new family to bond together.

"You did it, Ace. I'm so proud of you." He smiled at Rory and kissed her softly.  
"Look at our beautiful daughters, Logan. They are so perfect."  
Logan watched as Alice cut the umbilical cord and placed a blanket over the baby on Rory's chest. "Can you believe they're really ours, babe?"  
"Well, with their mops of blond hair, I can definitely believe that they're yours," she smirked at him before breaking into the biggest grin he had ever seen grace her face. "I love you," she smiled.  
"I love you too, Ace. And I love you, and you." He punctuated each you with a kiss to each of his daughter's head.  
"Alright guys, everything is good here. Rory, you did perfectly. No tearing, everything is great. To be honest, I've never seen such a perfect twin birth." Alice smiled as she stood up and began to walk to the door.  
"Alice," Rory called out, "Would you like to meet our daughters?"  
The doctor hesitated for a moment, normally families wanted this time alone to bond together. "Are you sure..?"  
"Of course," Logan smiled, "We'd be delighted."  
Alice sat with the family for a few minutes, amazed at how perfectly they fitted together. She congratulated both Rory and Logan, and let them know that she would be back to check on them later that night.

As the doctor left the room, the midwife helped Rory to begin feeding baby b, who was scooting around searching for milk. As she latched onto Rory's eyes went wide, but noticed the pain subsided fairly quickly. "You do get used to that sensation, trust me," the midwife smiled encouragingly, "Before you know it, you'll be feeding both at once!"  
Once baby b was finished feeding, she was passed to Logan, who passed baby a back to Rory to feed. Once she was done, the midwife helped Rory into the shower. Rory enjoyed a warm shower, glad to be able to clean herself up before their family came in to meet their daughters. Logan and I have daughters, she thought to herself, two beautiful daughters. She dried herself off cautiously, and dressed in Logan's Yale sweatpants and a tank top and cardigan, choosing her top half wisely so that she could easily feed her babies. The midwife helped her onto a new bed, and left the family to settle in.

Logan sat next to Rory on the bed, and together they dressed their daughters into blush pink onesies, one with a light grey elephant, and the other with a light grey giraffe. Logan wrapped them how the midwife had shown him, before placing baby b in Rory's arms, and holding baby a to his chest. "I think the name's we've chosen fit them perfectly, Ace. What do you think?"  
"I think you're completely right, Mr Huntzberger. Are you ready to introduce them to everyone?"  
"I am, Mrs Huntzberger. Are you?"  
"Definitely," she smiled at Logan as she heard light knocking at the door, "Besides, I don't think we'll be able to keep them away any longer."


	38. so gorgeous

Emily and Richard were the first to walk in, the others having decided that Rory's grandparents should be the first to meet the new babies. Richard leant down and kissed Rory's forehead as he offered his congratulations, telling her how proud he was to have two great-granddaughters. Rory smiled, watching as Emily sat next to Logan, embracing him in a one-armed hug.  
"Grandma, Grandpa," Rory said as she looked at each of them, "We'd like to formally introduce you to your great-granddaughters. This is Harriet Honor Huntzberger,"  
"And this is Olive Emily Huntzberger," Logan smiled at Emily as he watched tears roll down her face.  
"Oh, Rory, Logan! You two are the most beautiful family I could ever have wished for!" Emily kissed Logan's cheek before walking over to Rory and doing the same.  
"Would you like to give Harriet a cuddle, Grandma? I know you got to meet Olive earlier…" Rory looked at her grandmother, thrilled that she had been there for this moment.  
"I would be delighted, Rory," Emily said softly, taking the baby out of Rory's arms and holding her close. She sat down in a chair next to Rory's bed, noticing that Richard was holding the other baby. Logan had picked up the camera, and was busy snapping hundreds of pictures, adding to the ones that he and Rory had taken throughout the morning.

"It wasn't long before Honor popped her head inside the door, quietly asking if it was alright if she came in.  
"Of course it is!" Rory beamed at her sister-in-law, "Tell Finn and Rosie to come in, too!"  
As the trio walked in the room, they each embraced Logan, and then Rory, offering their congratulations. Honor sat next to Rory on the bed, quietly asking how she was feeling.  
"Actually, pretty good," Rory smiled, "Although I think that's just adrenaline. But honestly, they are so cute that I don't think I could sleep right now!"  
Emily stood up with her great-grandbaby and passed her over to Honor to meet. Richard, taking Emily's cue, gestured for Finn and Rosemary to sit down, and placed the baby into Rosemary's arms, with Finn looking over her shoulder. The older couple announced that they would be back shortly, they simply needed to pick a few things up.  
"You two sure have produced some pretty cute babies, I think they may just be the most adorable babies I have ever seen!" Honor announced proudly, "But I'm dying to know…what are their names?"  
Rory smiled at Logan, nodding her head at him to tell them.  
"Well, Honor, you are giving Harriet Honor Huntzberger, and Rosie, you are holding Olive Emily Huntzberger!"  
Honor squealed, "Seriously?"  
"Seriously," Logan responded with a smirk. "Honor, you have been the best sister I could have ever wished for. You taught me not only how to love another person, but also that I deserve to be loved. I couldn't ever repay you for that."  
Honor stood up, holding Harriet in one arm and throwing the other arm around Logan's neck. "I love you, baby brother." She slowly turned to Rory and gave her a small hug as well, "I love you too, Ror."  
"Finn, everything ok?" Logan asked, "You're a little quiet over there, mate."  
Finn shook his head a little, "Just taking it all in, Logan. I've never been this close to a baby before, this is incredible. They are perfect, Huntz."  
Finn's sentiments seemed to settle over the group for a few moments, the love in the room was beyond apparent. It was a few minutes before they were interrupted by Olive wriggling around and making small noises.  
"I think someone might be hungry, Ace," Logan said as he watched his daughter wriggling in Rosemary's arms.  
Honor smiled at her brother, "Well, how about we leave the four of you alone for a few hours, and we'll come back later this afternoon?"  
"That'd be great, thanks, Honor," Logan smiled at his sister and took Harriet from her arms. Rosemary stood up and handed Olive to Rory, whispering another congratulations into her ear.  
"We'll see you both soon, love," Finn announced as he walked to the door, "Thank you," he murmured quietly before he shut the door behind them.  
Rory quickly unwrapped the blanket from around her daughter and pulled her top down, bringing the baby to her like the midwife had shown her. She winced momentarily as Olive latched on, before looking over at Logan and giggling, "Who would've thought babies would leave Finn almost speechless?"

An hour later, Logan had settled Rory with both babies to take some more photos of their new family. He snapped a few shots, frowning slightly as he heard knocking on the door. Placing the camera down on the end of the bed, he walked over to open the door. "Chris!" he said, shaking his father-in-law's hand, "It's good to see you, come in!"  
"Dad?" Rory said, smiling through the shock. "How'd you know?"  
"Well, I'd love to say fathers intuition, Ror, but Richard called to let me know you were in labour last night, so I jumped on a plane."  
"Oh, dad! What about Gigi? I'm so excited that you're here, come and meet your granddaughters!"  
"I left Gigi at home with your mother," Chris said quietly as he walked over to Rory. "Oh, they're beautiful, kid. Great work," he kissed her cheek. "Do they have names yet?"  
"They do," Rory smiled at her dad, "This is Harriet Honor," she gestured towards the baby in her left arm, "and this is Olive Emily," gesturing to the baby in her right arm.  
"Beautiful names. No Lorelai, though?" Chris asked.  
"No Lorelai," Rory confirmed, "We couldn't, dad," she said sadly.  
Logan moved and sat next to his wife, gently rubbing her back. She smiled, before passing Harriet to him for some daddy-daughter bonding.  
"Would you like to meet Harriet, dad?" she asked, glancing shyly at her father.  
"I'd love to, Ror." he gently took his granddaughter and rocked her in his arms, sitting in a chair next to Rory's bed. He spent some time getting to know his granddaughters and catching up with his daughter and son-in-law, before making his way back to his hotel with the promise of coming back the next morning.

Logan and Rory spent the afternoon napping on and off, only ever for a few minutes at a time as they both kept checking on their daughters. It was around 5 pm when Rory began feeding her daughters again, starting with Olive and then switching with Logan to feed Harriet. A few minutes in, Alice knocked on the door and let herself into Rory's room, greeting both of the new parent.  
"How are you feeling, Rory?" she asked as she perched on the end of Rory's bed.  
"Really good, Alice. Thank you so much for everything!"  
"I'm glad. I'll let you finish and then we'll do a check to make sure your body is recovering well. How about you, Logan?"  
"Beyond happy, Alice. I don't think I've ever felt this content," Logan smiled at Alice, "How long do you think we'll need to stay here?"  
"Normally at least 3 nights, day 3 can be tough, so we like to make sure you have support for that." She smiled at Rory, "But I promise we'll play it by ear, 'kay?"  
She chatted to the couple until Rory had finished nursing the baby, and did the required checks quickly, happy with the recovery so far.  
"There's just one more thing before I move on," she said as she reached into her bag. "When I arrived back at the hospital this afternoon, I had a quick look at your file and found this." She pulled 2 registration of birth forms out and handed them to Rory. "Now, I wasn't going to say anything, we are used to unique naming, but I noticed that the surname you registered was Gilmore. I know you told me that you wanted them both to be Huntzberger, I mean, that's what you pre-registered them with. I also noticed that this isn't your signature, Rory…"  
Rory took in the forms that the doctor had given her, noting that the names of the babies were "Lorelai Victoria" and "Lorelai Georgia". She scanned down the page and noticed the signature at the bottom of the page was that of her mother. She looked at Logan, a fierce look of determination in her eyes. "She's here," she said, matter-of-factly, "My mother is in London and being her usual arrogant self!"  
Logan was in disbelief as he glanced at the forms Rory handed him. "What can we do, Alice? Have these been lodged?"  
"No, I picked them up just in time," she handed Logan two new forms to compete, "If you would like to do them now, while I wait, I think that would be best. Obviously, I have some security concerns now, do you have a picture of your mother, Rory?"  
"Ummm, maybe on my phone, I'll have to have a look," Rory said.  
"Great. If you can send it to me, that'd be great. If you'd like I can notify security and stop her from coming into the hospital?"  
Rory sighed heavily, "I think that'd be best. Logan?"  
"I hate to say it, Ace, but I think we need to. What if she manages to get in, or God forbid, takes one of the girls?"  
"I think you're right," Rory whispered softly. "How long will it take, Alice?"  
"I can have the image dispersed within 5 minutes, guys. I'm so sorry you have to go through this," she rubbed her hand along Rory's arm gently. "I think we should move you to another room, as well. Just to be on the safe side. That ok?"  
"Of course, Alice," Rory smiled sadly.  
"Alright, I'll go and put everything in motion. I think we'll move you to a room upstairs, it's bigger as well so there'll be plenty of space for your family." She smiled at Logan who handed her the newly completed birth registration forms, "And I will personally take these to be lodged for you. Be back in a few minutes," she said to the couple as she walked out the room.

"You alright, Ace?" Logan asked quietly as he watched Rory gently rocking Olive in her arms.  
"I'm ok, just flabbergasted. I don't understand her logic."  
"I know, babe. But it's being fixed, it'll be ok," he picked Harriet up from the bassinet and sat next to Rory, admiring their daughters. "Do you think your dad had anything to do with it?"  
"I don't think so, but I'll definitely ask him when we see him tomorrow morning." A few minutes passed in which both Rory and Logan took in every detail of their daughters. Rory looked over at her husband, who was taking photos of their tiny hands and feet, "I love you, Mr Huntzberger. Very, very much."  
"I love you too, Mrs Huntzberger. More than you know."  
They glanced at the door as they heard knocking, "Come in," Logan called.  
Finn walked into the room, alone, and sat on the chair closest to the bed. "How are you feeling, love?" he asked Rory.  
"Good, Finn. Very much in love." Rory smiled, "Would you like to give our lovely Olive a cuddle?"  
"Are you sure…I mean…you trust me?" he asked, shocked.  
"Of course we do, mate," Logan smiled at his friend.  
Rory moved and sat in the chair next to Finn, carefully placing the baby into Finn's arms, showing him how to support her class="Apple-converted-space" br /span"Oh, love, she's so tiny. So perfect," Finn smiled at the baby he was holding, "Uncle Finny loves you very much, Miss Olive."  
Rory looked across at Logan as Finn continued whispering to the baby, both amazed that their friend, Finn of all people, was so taken by the little girl.  
It was a few moments before Finn looked up at Rory and Logan, "I'm going to be a dad. Rosie's pregnant, love."


	39. cycle ends right now

**For those of you who asked, I've popped the time and date details in for the birth of their babies :)**  
 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, sorry it took so long to get out to you all!**  
 **Would love to hear your thoughts...enjoy!**

Rory tilted her head to the side and looked at Finn, "What'd you say?"  
"Rosie and I are having a baby, she's 10 weeks tomorrow."  
Rory's eyes flitted to Logan, taking in the look of shock spread over his face. "Congratulations, Uncle Finny!" Rory said with a grin. "Where's Rosie now?"  
"Knew you wouldn't miss that, Reporter Girl." Finn smiled down at Olive who was still in his arms. "And Rosie is at your place, she was feeling a little tired so I left her to have a nap. I think she's going to come and visit tomorrow."  
"Congrats, mate," Logan walked over to Finn and gave him a one-armed hug, careful not to squish the baby, "Honestly, brilliant news!"  
"Thanks, Huntz. But enough about me, tell me how your day's been with these two beautiful babies."  
"It's been…interesting. We've had the best time finally getting to meet the girls, and have spent most of the day utterly smitten. But we had some, quite frankly, shitty news just before you came in," Rory smiled at Finn, "I think Harriet wants to meet her Uncle Finny, why don't we switch around?"  
Logan took Olive from Finn while Rory put Harriet into his arms. As Logan sat back down, Rory picked up her phone and camera and snapped pictures on both of the two of them holding a twin each.  
"What do you mean by shitty news, Huntzberger?" Finn directed at Rory, while he took in the features of the baby in his arms, "There's nothing wrong with the girls, is there?"  
"The girls are perfect," Logan smiled as he softly rocked Olive who had become a little unsettled.  
"My mother's been causing drama," Rory said with a roll of her eyes, "She seems to be under the impression that she has the ability to name our children."  
"Let me guess, Lorelai Gilmore and Lorelai Gilmore?" Finn cocked an eyebrow at Rory.  
"You guessed it, Finn."  
Finn laughed, "She's kidding, right?"  
"Nope, she filled in the birth registration forms. Luckily our doctor caught them in time, she knew Rory and I were using Huntzberger."  
"Please tell me you're going to get Colin to look into what can be done? The two of you should be enjoying your daughters, not worrying about a wayward parent."  
"I know, right." Rory smiled at Finn.  
"We'll be talking to Colin about it when they get down to London, hopefully tomorrow afternoon," Logan said with a frown. "I really want to focus on the girls, but it's hard with this hanging over us. Why don't we call your dad now, Ace? See if he knows what's going on?"  
Rory bit her bottom lip, as much as she wanted to not give her mother another thought, she knew it was best if they resolved it as soon as possible. Taking a deep breath in, she responded "I think we should, babe. I'll call him now, I think, and see if he can pop in."

Finn decided to wait around until Christopher arrived. An hour went by before they heard a light knocking on the door to Rory's room. Finn jumped up and opened the door, greeting Christopher before saying goodnight to the new Huntzberger family.

"You sounded desperate on the phone, kid, what's going on?" Chris asked as he sat in a chair next to Logan and looked across at his granddaughters, "These girls are even cuter than they were this morning, by the way."  
"They do seem to keep getting cuter, don't they?" Logan smiled, "Do you want me to stay Ace?"  
"Yes, please." Rory smiled across at Logan before she looked at her dad.  
"Oh, serious time?" Chris asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.  
Rory looked her father dead in the eye, "Is mum in London?"  
"Huh?" Chris asked, confused, "The last time I saw her, or even spoke to her, was when she dropped me off at the airport, Ror. So, no, I believe she is in Stars Hollow."  
Olive began to fuss a little and wriggle around, so Rory took her from Logan so that she could feed her. "Hang on, dad, Olive here is a little bit hungry. You don't mind, do you?"  
"Not a problem, I'll just look around the room while you get settled."  
A few minutes went by before Rory began talking again, "Are you sure though, dad? Are you sure she's home?"  
Chris sighed loudly, "As far as I know she is."  
Logan could see that the father and daughter were not getting anywhere, so he cleared his throat. "Look, Chris, the reason Rory is being so insistent is that Lorelai apparently came to this hospital today. That's why we've had to move rooms. She did something that…well, that wasn't her place to do."  
"She filled in birth registration forms, dad! She named both of our children 'Lorelai Gilmore'!" Rory said in a loud voice.  
"She what?" Chris said even louder, "What do you mean she registered their birth? Only the parents can do that!"  
"Well, she has the same name as I used to. Our doctor managed to get the forms before they were lodged, and waited while we completed new, accurate ones. But that's not the point. Why is she in London? And why is she still trying to ruin my life?"  
"Oh, kid, I'm sorry this has happened. I don't know what's going on with your mother. But she's gone too far this time. I didn't want to tell you this now, I was going to wait for another month or so, but I think your mum and I are going to get a divorce. No, we are definitely going to do that. She's been playing the victim since the two of you got engaged."  
"It's not your fault, dad. But a divorce…are you sure? That's a big step…"  
"Don't you think it's strange that you haven't heard from anyone in the Hollow? Do you even speak to Lane much?"  
"I did think it was a bit odd, but I thought Lane was just busy with her boys and touring."  
"She's managed to convince the whole town that you're in the wrong, Ror. I don't know how she's done it but they all feel terribly sorry for her and think you are the devil child."  
Logan and Rory both laughed, finally catching their breath a few moments later.  
"She's really taken this that far?" Logan queried, as he rocked Harriet in his arms; his laughing had disturbed her sleep and she made it clear that she was not happy.  
"That's Lorelai Gilmore for you," Rory smirked, "Dad…what are you going to do? What about GG?"  
"Well, my mother has offered for us to move into her place for a bit, so I think we'll do that. Did I tell you G is going to Chilton?"  
"Oh that's wonderful, she'll love it there! Does mum know you're moving out?"  
Chris grimaced, "Not exactly. But if what you're saying is true, I don't see any other option. I can't keep defending her when she's doing all of this crap to you."  
"I'm sorry, dad. I wish it were different."  
"I know, kid. I know. But it's not your fault. Are you going to say something to her?"  
"Yeah, I think we will. Would you like to give Olive a cuddle since she's finished? Then I can feed Harriet."  
Chris stood up and took his granddaughter from his daughter's arms, before sitting back in the chair with her. He wrapped the blanket around her as she snuggled in close and fell back to sleep. Logan took this opportunity to snap some photos of Chris holding Olive, and also a few of Rory feeding Harriet.  
"Do you want to stay here while we talk to her, dad?" Rory asked quietly.  
"Up to you, Ror. Whatever you feel more comfortable with."  
"I'd like it if you stayed."

Logan organised with the nursing staff to let Lorelai in on this one occasion, advising to have security on the same floor as Rory's room in case they were needed. Chris had called Lorelai, telling her that Rory had had the babies and that she was invited to come and meet them if she wanted. While he could tell that Lorelai had been apprehensive about the conversation, she agreed and was arriving at the hospital within minutes. Logan had spoken with Alice, their doctor, about the conversation they were about to have with Rory's mother, and she suggested taking the babies a few doors down into an empty room, where she would stay with them until they were finished. "It'll give me a chance to do some of my paperwork," she had said happily.

While they awaited Lorelai's arrival, Rory took the opportunity to change her clothes, putting her hair into a high ponytail and choosing to put on a black knit dress that had been designed for breastfeeding. She knew that her belly would take quite some time to go down, and was glad that this dress was a little looser than they styles that she had been wearing during her pregnancy.  
"You look gorgeous, Ace," Logan commented when she walked slowly out of the bathroom, "Honestly, I don't think you are supposed to look like that on the day you give birth."  
"It's just a casual dress, Logan," she smirked at her husband, "besides, it's a whole lot more comfortable than sweats."  
Chris smiled at their interaction, shaking his head slightly. "Where would you like to sit, Ror? Do you want to get back into bed or try the armchair?"  
"I think I'll try the armchair for a bit, see how I go," she said to her dad while Logan helped her to sit in the big armchair, checking that she was ok as she winced when she sat down.  
"All good," she smiled up at her husband, "Just a little tender but I'm ok."

Not long after the trio made themselves comfortable, they heard a voice in the corridor, "I'm looking for Rory, which room?"  
Rory took a deep breath in as she watched the door open, noticing that there was no knock, just the assumption that it was fine to come in.  
"The most important person has arrived!" Lorelai announced as she walked into the room, "Was I right, kid, or was I right? Just like doing the splits on a crate of dynamite!"  
Rory's eyes flitted across to Logan; he could see the look of desperation she shot at him as her confidence started to fade with the arrival of her mother.  
"Lorelai, thanks for coming by. How are you?" Logan stood up and greeted her, a fake smile he usually reserved for his parents' parties plastered across his face.  
"Well thanks, but I'm not here to see you. Where are my delicious grandbabies?"  
"Lor," Chris began, "why don't you sit down, I think Rory and Logan would like to catch up before you meet their daughters."  
"No, I'm good, just here to meet the two Lorelai's, unless there's an apology coming for the way I've been treated."  
"I'm looking at one Lorelai and you're looking at the other, mum. Two of the three Lorelai's in the Gilmore family." Rory said firmly.  
"Oh no, I mean the two Lorelai's that were born today. And I didn't hear an apology."  
"Lorelai," Logan interrupted, "there is no apology coming. We don't have anything to apologise for."  
"Our daughters are not named Lorelai," Rory spoke in a quiet voice that sent shivers down Logan's spine, he had never heard her so full of confidence, anger, and control all at the same time. "Nor are they Gilmore's. Their names are Harriet Honor Huntzberger and Olive Emily Huntzberger."  
"I think you'll find that you registered their births as Lorelai Victoria Gilmore and Lorelai Leigh Gilmore. I saw the birth registration forms on my way in, Rory. That's what the forms say."  
"No, the forms that Logan and I completed do not say that. We know what you did, mum, and I'll never be able to forgive you for that."  
"What do you mean, what I did?"  
"Lor, their doctor brought them the forms you fraudulently filled in. I think our daughter knows your handwriting. And even if she didn't, I sure do, and you definitely completed the forms." Chris watched as Lorelai rearranged her face from one of shock to the one that she had been using around Stars Hollow to complain about Rory. "I've had it with you and your made up scenarios, Lorelai. You've spent the last nine months convincing the town that you're the victim and have turned everyone against our kid. And now you pull this stunt? Better yet, you're supposed to be home with GG, or did you just forget about her?"  
"Chris, don't be like that. I've told everyone the truth. Rory ran off with Logan and he forced her to move to London and impregnated her. He stole her from us, Chris! Can't you see that?"  
"No, I can't. Where's my daughter?"  
"I left her with Francine. I thought you would want to spend some time in London with our granddaughters."  
"No, I don't. We're done, Lorelai. You've managed to ruin your relationships with every member of your family, and have lost all of us. You've taken away a day from our own daughter, a day that should be filled with happiness and love, that she won't be able to get back. Expect a letter from my lawyer when you arrive home. We're done. Now leave."

Rory watched as her mum registered what her dad was saying. She squeezed Logan's hand tightly, wishing they could be a few doors down with their babies.  
"Chris, you don't know what you're saying! Don't let Logan destroy our family! We'll take Rory and the babies and leave! Please, this is all just a misunderstanding!" Lorelai wasn't crying, but her voice was getting louder as she spoke. "You know we're meant to be together, don't let him destroy this!"  
"Lorelai, you need to leave. We are done. If you don't walk out of that door within the next 10 seconds, security will be in to escort you out." Chris spoke calmly, a trait that he had passed onto his daughter.  
"You've ruined everything, Logan. Actually, you did Rory. You should've gone to Harvard like we'd planned, then you would never have met this playboy. You'll see. Don't come crawling back to me when he leaves you for a younger model." And with that, Lorelai turned and walked out the door, slamming it closed behind her.  
"Well," Rory began, "that was intense."  
Logan, Chris, and Rory all looked at one another and burst into laughter, the situation diffused as Alice rolled the babies back into the room for Rory to feed.  
"I filled their details in on the cards, Rory. I hope you don't mind," Alice smiled warmly at the couple, as she showed them the completed baby detail cards:

Baby A: Olive Emily Huntzberger, born at 9:12 am on Thursday, 7th February 2008.  
Baby B: Harriet Honor Huntzberger, born at 9:37 am on Thursday, 7th February 2008.


	40. right there, beside

Rory woke the next morning after having been up feeding her daughters every 3 hours. As tired as she was, her heart swelled when she saw Logan sitting with a baby in each of his arms.  
"Good morning, Ace," he smiled at her as he noticed she was awake.  
"How long have you been up for, sweetie?"  
"About half an hour, but we've only been sitting here for about 10 minutes. Still plenty of time if you want to have a shower, babe."  
Rory sat up on the bed and slowly moved to sit next to Logan, kissing each of their daughters on their heads, and then softly kissing Logan on his lips.  
"How are you feeling this morning, Ace?"  
"A little bit sore, but better than I thought it would be. Are you sure you'll be ok while I have a quick shower?"  
"Of course we will, right girls?" he smiled down at the babies in his arms.  
Rory smiled at Logan talking to their daughters, and made her way into the shower. She showered quickly, choosing to put on a similar style knit dress to the one she'd been wearing the day before. As she walked back into the room, a nurse walked in to check on the family, making sure they were all happy and settled. She spent some time with them, watching Rory feed Harriet before she left the room with a smile on her face, happy that everything was going well.

"Good morning," came a sing-song voice from the doorway, "Aunty Honor and Aunty Stephie are here!" Honor announced as she walked into the room. "How are we all doing?"  
"Steph! You made it!" Rory beamed as she watched her friend walk in the room. She had finished feeding both babies and was in the process of changing them and putting new onesies on. She had known that Honor was coming in that morning and had specifically chosen to dress the girls in matching onesies that she had bought for them.

Logan stood up and greeted both Honor and Steph, the latter who sat on the bed next to Rory.  
"They are so gorgeous, Ror. Honestly…they couldn't be any more perfect!" Steph smiled at the babies and watched as Rory finished getting them dressed.  
"Thanks, Steph." Rory hugged her friend, glad that she had been able to make it down to London. "Why don't you pick up Olive, and Aunty Honor can give Harriet a cuddle."  
Steph held Olive close to her chest and sat down in one of the chairs, while Logan picked Harriet up and placed her in Honor's arms.  
"Steph, did you forget to bring Colin?" Logan smirked.  
Steph rolled her eyes, "Of course not. He's checking into the hotel, I just wanted to get here as fast as possible. I think he was meeting up with Finn and coming in a little later."  
"Why don't you go have breakfast with them, babe?" Rory suggested, "I'll be fine here with the girls."  
"Are you sure, Ace?"  
"I'm very sure. Besides, Honor and Steph aren't going anywhere, they are going to stay with me until you get back."  
"Alright," he grinned at his wife, "I won't be long, promise. I love you." He kissed Rory and then kissed both of his daughters on their foreheads before leaving the room.

The three girls spent an hour catching up, Rory filling them in on how the first night had gone, and what had happened when her mother had shown up. Honor had been horrified (after all, to her that was more of a Shira move than anything), and Steph had suggested talking to Colin about what could be done in a legal sense.

"New room, sweetie?" Rosemary smiled as she walked into the room, "I had to ask for directions twice!"  
Rory, Steph, and Honor laughed as Rosemary walked into the room and greeted each of them. Rory stood up to give her a hug, whispering "congratulations" in her ear.  
"I might leave you to it, lovelies. There are a few things I need to pop out and buy," Honor smiled. "Rosie, why don't you take this chair and have a snuggle with Harriet?" Honor passed the baby over and said goodbye, quietly closing the door behind her on the way out.

"How are you feeling, Ror?" Rosemary asked softly.  
"Pretty good, I'm not about to go and run a marathon, but I thought it'd be worse than this."  
"Gives me hope, then. If you can look as good as you do the day after giving birth to twins, I'm sure I'll be ok."  
"Are you…?" Steph grinned at Rosemary.  
"Yep. 10 weeks yesterday!"  
"Congratulations, Rosie! That's amazing! How's Finn taking it? Are you still moving over here?" Steph was full of questions and quickly blabbed them all out.  
"Finn is so excited, wait till you see him, Steph! And we are, hopefully, we'll find a place in the next few days."  
"That's so exciting! Seriously, congratulations!" Steph reached over and squeezed her friend's arm.

"So, I have a question for the two of you," Rory said softly a few minutes later, smiling at her two friends holding her babies. "Logan and I were wondering if you would like to be Olive's godmother, Steph? And Rosie, Harriet's?"  
"Oh, Rory, I'd be delighted!" Steph smiled, looking down at Olive in her arms.  
"I'd be honoured, Ror, honestly, thank you," Rosemary stuttered as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.  
"When we sat down and talked about it, we couldn't think of anyone better to be godparents to our little girls. Logan is asking Colin and Finn the same thing right now, too. We love you guys and want you to know we want you involved with everything," Rory gave each of them a hug, so glad that she had such wonderful people in her life.  
The trio laughed as Olive began to cry when Rory hugged Steph, "I think she might be hungry," Rory said as she scooped her out of Steph's arms, "You two don't mind if I feed her, do you?"

While the girls spent the morning catching up and fawning over the twins, Logan, Colin, and Finn were in a nearby cafe having a similar chat. Finn excitedly shared his news with Colin, and Logan filled both Colin and Finn in on what had transpired with Lorelai. Colin was shocked; he had always found it strange that Rory and Lorelai were so close, but figured the two would work out their problems once they had it out.  
"So she really just left? Yelled at her and left?" Colin asked in shock.  
"Well, she yelled at Chris as well. And then he told her to expect divorce papers within the week. But, yeah, she just walked out." Logan responded with a slight frown.  
"How's Rory taking it, mate?" Finn asked.  
"She seems to be holding it together. I think she just wants all the drama to be over. Colin, can we organise something to ensure Lorelai doesn't come near us or the girls?"  
"Normally you need to go through the cops, but I'll see what I can do to make it a bit easier for you."  
"Thanks, man. And just…thank you, both of you, for everything. Don't know what I would've done without you two, to be honest." Logan's voice was hoarse; it was the most emotional he'd ever really been with his friends. "So, Rory and I would like the two of you to be godparents to the girls; Colin, Olive's, and Finn, Harriet's?"  
"Seriously?" Finn asked incredibly loudly, "You're not having a joke, are you?"  
Logan laughed at his friend, "Course I'm serious. That is not a joking matter, Finn. What do you think?" He directed his last question to Colin as well.  
"Well, obviously, I will be a fantastic godfather, so I say yes!" Finn said dramatically.  
"Uhh, are you sure, Huntz?" Colin asked quietly, "I don't know what to do…"  
"You'll be fine, Col. Promise. If I can figure out how to hold them and dress them, I'm sure you can figure out how to be an uncle and godfather."  
Colin nodded, "Thanks, mate, I'd be honoured."


	41. home

"Alright, Rory, Logan, you are all good to go home," Alice announced as she stood up after spending a few minutes with the new Huntzberger family. "You have your check-up appointment all booked; do you have any questions before you leave?"

Rory smiled at her doctor, who had gone above and beyond what Rory had expected from her obstetrician. "No, I'm all good…but thank you. Thank you so much for being so wonderful!"

Alice smiled, "You just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be fine. Logan, keep taking good care of these girls, and remember you can call if you have any questions." Alice walked towards the door, "I'll see you in a few weeks!"

"Are you sure you've packed everything?" Rory asked Logan as she glanced around the room, checking to see if any of their belongings had been left.

"I'm sure, babe. I've been taking a few things home each day so that we weren't left with bags and bags after 5 nights."

"You're my hero!" Rory smiled and kissed Logan's lips softly.

"Well, your hero is advising that you put a coat on before we head outside, it's freezing out there." Logan held Rory's coat up for her as she slipped her arms in.

As Rory buttoned her coat up over her yoga pants and nursing jumper, one of the nurses walked in, "Oh good, you're all ready to go. Mrs Huntzberger, we'll just need you to sign a few forms and then you can be on your way. Do you feel comfortable walking out or would you rather a wheelchair?"

"Oh, I'll be fine to walk out, thank you. But Logan may need some help with one of the car seats if that's ok?"

"Of course. If you can sign these," she handed 3 separate forms to Rory, "I will be able to help you out to the car."

Rory signed the forms, simple release forms for herself, Harriet, and Olive. Once she handed them back to the nurse they slowly made their way down to the car, which Logan had moved to the closest entrance possible. He triple checked each of the car seats, ensuring that they were safely secured before helping Rory into the car. For the first time since moving to the UK, he was thankful for the London traffic as it meant he could drive slowly without causing a mid-morning traffic jam. The drive that normally took 10 minutes took them almost half an hour, and as they arrived home Olive was beginning to stir.

It took them a few minutes, but the family of four settled themselves inside their home, choosing to sit in the snug where Rory could comfortably feed Olive while Logan held Harriet in his arms.

"Babe," Rory began, looking up at Logan, "how do you feel about going up to the Derbyshire house for a few days next week? I'm dying to see it in person…"

Logan smirked at Rory, "Sure, sweetie. As long as you're feeling up to it. How do you think the girls will go on the drive?"

"I think as long as we time it right then they'll be fine. I just thought it might be nice to get out of London for a few days, introduce them to the outdoors while they're really small."

Logan smiled at his wife, "As long as you feel alright about it, Ror, sure. And it'll be nice to get away from everyone for a bit, just be the four of us for a few days."

"Sounds perfect," Rory smiled at her husband, "Now, I think it's time to swap daughters, Harriet's looking a little bit hungry."

A few hours later, after both of the twins had been fed yet again, Logan told Rory to have a nap before they needed to be fed again. Rory had fallen asleep the second her head hit her pillow, not having realised how tired she really was. She woke up two hours later to Logan bringing her in a cup of tea. She immediately sat up, thinking it was time to feed her daughters again.

"No, baby," Logan smiled, "Olive is just beginning to squirm a bit, but Rosie's giving her a cuddle downstairs. I thought you'd like to have a cup of tea and a shower first?"

"You are the most perfect husband," Rory whispered as she took a sip of hot tea, "Thank you for being you."

"You're very welcome, darling. Now I'd say you've got about 45 minutes before Olive will be searching for you. Do you want me to bring her up here or are you happy downstairs? Finn, Rosie, and Honor are here, and Colin and Steph will be once they finish up at work…"

"I'll be fine downstairs babe, I think they've all seen my boobs at this point."

Logan smirked, "Not as closely as I have though…"

"I don't think anybody has seen them as often or as close up as you have," Rory giggled.

"And let's keep it that way…other than our daughters." Logan leant down and kissed his wife gently, "Take your time, Ror. We'll see you when you're ready."

After a very long, luxurious shower, Rory dressed in a wrap dress that had easy access for feeding, popped on some tights and headed downstairs to the snug. She smiled as she saw Logan and Finn cooing over Olive, while Rosemary held a still sleeping Harriet. She greeted her friends before scooping Olive up in her arms and settling into a cosy armchair to feed her daughter. She softly sang to Olive as she fed her, and as she switched from Olive to Harriet, Colin and Steph arrived, bringing with them Rory's favourite Thai food for dinner.

"Feel free to kick us out any time you're ready," Steph whispered to Rory and Logan as she said hello. "And I mean it, the moment you want to us to leave just say the word."

"Don't be silly, Steph! You guys are always welcome," Rory smiled at her friend, "Besides, I'm not above simply going to bed!"


End file.
